Iran’s two-tier internet access fuels anger and exposes cracks in the regime
A paid Internet Pro system now gives approved users faster, less restricted access while most Iranians remain under heavy filtering, officials and reports say.
- Iran's near-total internet blackout has surpassed 70 days, even as the government maintains Internet Pro, a tiered system providing privileged access to specific business and academic users.
- Hardliners and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps use the program to exert control, while the broader blackout has cost the economy an estimated $250 million daily.
- According to the independent publication Khabar Online, the system divides Iranian society into two distinct classes, leaving ordinary citizens struggling with heavy filtering and rising black-market VPN costs amid 2 million estimated job losses.
- Communications Minister Sattar Hashemi asserted tiered internet has "no validity," joining President Masoud Pezeshkian and Judiciary Head Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei in condemning the discriminatory system.
- While state media boasts of unity against an "imposed war" by the United States and Israel, critics argue the policy exploits citizen hardship and sustains a lucrative black market for banned VPN services.
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KEZI 9 News
Local 3 NewsIran's internet blackout has now lasted more than two months, the longest on record. For millions who depend on being online to earn a living, the void has been devastating.
“And suddenly, one morning, we feel lost to each other.” Mehrnoosh Shahhosseini, a 52-year-old fashion designer from Tehran, recalls the hours that followed the first air strikes by Israel and the United States, on February 28, when Iranian authorities blocked Internet access for “security reasons.” Continue reading
The government-imposed internet shutdown in Iran has entered its 11th week. According to NetBlocks, an internet monitoring group, ordinary people in the country still have no access to the internet and remain "cut off from the world." "The censorship measure poses a tremendous barrier to knowledge, information and communication for Iranians trying to go about their daily lives," NetBlocks said. A small number of websites were previously accessib…
Inside Iran’s new two-tier internet access, as blackout drags on
Iran is giving privileged internet access to a small group of approved users, while most of the population remains offline during a prolonged nationwide blackout. More than 60 days into one of the longest shutdowns in its history, authorities are moving from blanket censorship to a system that selects who can connect – raising concerns over inequality, economic damage and tighter control of dissent.
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