More than 75 million internet users in Iran are contending with heavily restricted online access nearly six months after a violent government crackdown on protesters, as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps maintains an extensive system of surveillance and censorship that human rights activists say has made communication with the outside world more difficult than ever before.
Over the past four weeks, internet access has gradually been restored following an 88-day shutdown that outside monitors described as one of the longest nationwide blackouts ever recorded. But users say the online environment bears little resemblance to what existed before the January 8 internet blackout and the violent crackdown on protesters that followed. CITNA reported that 68% of active Instagram users had not returned to the platform following the restoration of internet access. Instagram has remained restricted since the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising in the fourth year of that movement's legacy.
A Tiered System of Control
A source familiar with Iran's communications sector told The Media Line that the government had reopened the internet under conditions imposed by the Supreme National Security Council on the Supreme Council of Cyberspace. The source said one of the main conditions was that the quality of access to, and control over, the global internet be altered in such a way that it becomes far more manageable and controllable. According to the source, surveillance and monitoring aimed at updating blocklists had intensified on an hour-by-hour basis. The source said virtually all solutions and workarounds proposed by internet platforms and activists were monitored continuously and in real time, making the lifespan of such solutions very limited.
Tara Dachek, a human rights activist based in Canada, said the internet situation in Iran was no longer merely about censorship. She said, "The scope of filtering has expanded to such an extent that communications that were previously possible can no longer be achieved." Dachek described Iran's so-called tiered internet system, under which users are divided into several categories with sharply different levels of access. One group enjoys unrestricted access to the entire internet. These are generally the same individuals who monitor the internet, track activists, create fake and counterintelligence networks, infiltrate opposition circles and foster divisions among opponents. They are often affiliated with intelligence institutions. The second group consists of regime agents and officials who occupy the next tier and have access to most internet content except for certain blacklisted pornographic websites. The third group faces greater restrictions but can still access platforms such as X. At the lowest level are ordinary citizens, who account for the vast majority of users. They have access to almost no content other than approved material and Islamic Republic applications, where surveillance and monitoring can be carried out with relative ease.
Risks for Dissidents and Starlink Users
The source said VPNs were being heavily monitored and tracked, and that bypassing censorship had become considerably more difficult than before. Commonly available VPN services still fail to provide reliable access to Instagram, users said. Niko, a young protester in Tehran, said the Islamic regime had imposed extensive controls on internet access, making online content and social media significantly less accessible than before the internet blackout. Niko said that while the Islamic Republic claimed it had restored internet access, it had reduced speeds to the point that even VPNs that were functioning reasonably well a few months ago were practically unusable. Niko said, "At the same time, if you used government-approved applications while your VPN was active, you could be immediately identified, and they could cut off your access. The money you paid for the VPN would effectively be wasted." In her most recent message, sent while the Islamic Republic and the United States had once again been involved in hostilities despite a ceasefire, she said, "If they cut the internet again, our situation will become even worse. The next step for the Islamic Republic will probably be to take away our mobile phones."
The source said estimates suggested that around half a million people across the country, primarily in northern Tehran, had access to Starlink. The source said the only viable solution would be the widespread availability of Starlink to millions of people. In that scenario, the creation of house-to-house networks and broader access would make it significantly more difficult for the government to monitor and track Starlink usage. The source also said that any carelessness by users when accessing domestic websites could expose them to identification and tracking, and that security agencies had established various traps to target Starlink applicants, increasing distrust of Starlink providers. In recent weeks, raids by members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the police and the Ministry of Intelligence on private homes to confiscate Starlink equipment had intensified, in some cases resulting in violent confrontations resulting in injury or even death.
Silencing Voices, Deepening Depression
Following the 88-day shutdown, the return of connectivity allowed more images and testimony to emerge online, documenting the January crackdown and the broader civilian toll of the conflict. The report said some of the newly surfaced videos from the January massacre circulating on social media were deeply disturbing. However, the Islamic Republic's numerous security agencies also used the reopening of the internet to hunt down opponents and individuals communicating with journalists abroad or sending images and information to outside media.
According to Dachek, the central issue is precisely this classification system: determining which voices inside the country are allowed to be heard and which must be silenced. Well-known and popular figures such as rapper Toomaj Salehi, Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi and numerous civil rights activists, including Sepideh Qolian, have faced extensive threats. Some users who posted content on Instagram that could be interpreted as criticism of the war have recently published images of judicial summonses ordering them to appear before Revolutionary Prosecutors' Offices for questioning and prosecution. Communication with human rights and civil society activists inside the country remains severely restricted. Many have been subjected to threats and intimidation designed to force them into silence. The internet is not officially shut down, but repression and suffocation have become even more severe than before the January crackdown, according to some sources.
Dachek said many people cannot access Starlink because of its rising cost, while bringing the equipment into the country has become more difficult and now carries harsher penalties. While Iranian officials have acknowledged the economic costs of internet restrictions, the human toll is also mounting. In research presented by the author at the Global Communication Association conference in Casablanca the previous year, findings showed that internet filtering in Iran contributes to increased depression and hopelessness among young people.
Why This Matters:
Iran's tiered internet censorship system represents one of the most sophisticated tools of digital repression in the world, with direct consequences for the ability of ordinary Iranians to communicate, organize, and bear witness to state violence. The 88-day blackout following the January crackdown allowed the government to carry out a violent suppression of dissent largely hidden from international view. The gradual restoration of access has not restored freedom — it has instead created a surveillance architecture that tracks dissidents in real time and exposes them to arrest, intimidation, and worse. The targeting of Starlink users, the monitoring of VPN traffic, and the judicial summonses issued to social media users all reflect a state determined to silence internal opposition at any cost. For millions of young Iranians, the combination of political repression and digital isolation is contributing to rising depression and hopelessness. As President Masoud Pezeshkian warned on Sunday, if people reach the limits of their endurance, they will once again flood the streets — a recognition that even the architects of repression understand the risks of pushing a population into total silence.
Why This Matters:
Iran's internet censorship system has evolved from simple content blocking into a sophisticated architecture of surveillance and control that determines which citizens can speak and which must remain silent. The 88-day blackout that followed the January crackdown allowed the government to suppress dissent with minimal international scrutiny, and the restoration of access has brought not freedom but a more invasive system of monitoring. The tiered structure described by human rights activists reveals a state that grants full internet access to intelligence operatives tasked with infiltrating opposition networks, while ordinary citizens face near-total isolation from the global internet. The targeting of Starlink users through raids that have resulted in injury and death, the real-time tracking of VPN usage, and the judicial summonses issued to social media critics all reflect a government willing to deploy violence and legal coercion to silence dissent. For the more than 75 million Iranians living under these restrictions, the consequences are both political and psychological: research presented at the Global Communication Association conference the previous year found that internet filtering contributes to increased depression and hopelessness among young people. As President Pezeshkian himself acknowledged, the risk of pushing citizens to the limits of their endurance may eventually drive them back into the streets.