A group of Iranian lawmakers is pushing handy control of the country's internet over to a committee composed of powerful elements of the regime, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Forty members of the Iranian parliament had signed the motion
as of Monday, consistent with Radio Farda. The proposal—titled "Organizing
Social Media Messaging," would also ban foreign messaging apps and replace
them with domestically produced ones, which can hand the regime closer
surveillance capabilities.
The legislation would also introduce new penalties for anyone
offering foreign messaging apps or ways round the restrictions, for instance
VPNs. Those violating the new proposal will face a "six degree"
imprisonment or fine, meaning anywhere from six months to 2 years in prison,
and a fine of between $475 and $1,900.
A "domestic messaging app" will mean an Iranian the citizen must hold quite 50 percent of the program’s shares, it must be hosted’
in Iran, and its operations must abide by the country's laws.
The proposal would establish an "Organizing
Committee" to oversee licenses for approved messaging apps, monitor them
and investigate all complaints associated with their operations.
This centrosome would compile all elements of the regime,
including the powerful IRGC's Intelligence Organization.
It would also include the top of the Cyberspace Center; a
representative from the ministries of Intelligence, Culture, and Islamic
Guidance, and Communication; the Attorney General's Office; the Cultural
Commission; the state-run National Radio and TV body; the Islamic Propagation
Organization; the police; and therefore the quasi-military National Passive
Defense Organization.
Iran already bans many popular foreign social media
platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Though Instagram remains
allowed, lawmakers also are trying to dam the app. The ban for citizens doesn't
stop regime leaders from using foreign apps to succeed in a worldwide audience.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for instance, has
multiple Twitter profiles in several languages, and his English Channel has
quite 810,000 followers. President Hassan Rouhani has 1.1 million followers,
and secretary of state Javad Zarif 1.5 million.
The regime also habitually throttles the web to subdue
anti-government unrest, whether over allegedly rigged elections, anger over
death penalties for protesters, or demonstrations associated with poor quality
of life and a struggling economy.
Internet watchdogs reported disruption in July following a
web campaign against death penalties handed to people involved in last year's
mass protests. Then, Iranian internet users endured weeks of patchy connection
because the regime sought to crush demonstrations over a controversial new fuel
tax.
The State Department claimed that regime forces suppressing
the unrest killed some 1,500 protesters. Iranians again took to the streets in
January after Iranian troops accidentally shot down a passenger plane over
Tehran amid a military standoff with the U.S.
Earlier this month, the regime was forced’ to step in and
affect strikes by oil and petrochemical workers within the south of the
country, who began protesting poor working conditions and unpaid wages
following several worker deaths.
The unpaid wages and poor working conditions in these vital
industries speak to the disruption of U.S. sanctions on the Iranian industry. The
sanctions—part of President Donald Trump's "maximum pressure"
campaign—are designed’ to chop vital Iranian exports and further undermine the
creaking economy.
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