As the rest of the world battles to verify the numbers of dead, injured or imprisoned Iranians after weeks of unrest, a more complete picture could emerge as the country slowly gets back online – but so far attempts to resume connectivity have not been effective.
Iran went “dark” 17 days ago, when the Iran Supreme National Security Council ordered all Internet access to cease. While some connectivity was still available to some NGOs via Starlink, the country was largely cut off from communication with the rest of the world.
Now, the government has officially allowed connectivity to resume, but the operation has been patchy at best.
Iran’s Telecommunications Infrastructure Company told Fars News that Internet connectivity remains unstable due to technical complications, but was hoping most technical issues could be ironed out over the weekend.
Connectivity has been returning briefly, but quickly fizzling out again.
Stats from Cloudflare show traffic starting to trickle through from 21 January, but falling to nothing on 24 January, then much more muted uptake on 25 January.
As of yesterday (25 January), Netblocks reports that a – minimal whitelisted service is available to some users. While it’s complicated to do, some messages are getting through by using circumvention.
To all intents and purposes, Netblocks classifies the shutdown as continuing. “Brief connectivity spikes give a false impression of wider restoration,” it reports.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency agrees with this conclusion.
“On the twenty-ninth day of the protests, Iran’s government continues to disrupt and restrict Internet access,” it reports, adding that “short and unstable connections” lead users to believe the Internet has returned, while in practice stable quality and access are not restored.
“Alongside widespread shutdowns or severe bandwidth reductions, there is evidence of the implementation of a policy of ‘selective access’, whereby only certain pre-approved or limited services remain available to some users, effectively turning the online space into a controlled environment,” the agency says.
“Internet disruptions have extended beyond the political and security sphere, directly impacting everyday economic activity,” it adds.
“Overall, the Internet remains in a state of permanent crisis: unstable connections, selective access, a severe drop in quality, and the use of communication restrictions as a complement to street-level repression and mass arrests.
“This trend has not only cut off channels of information and coordination but has also noticeably disrupted the economic and social lives of citizens.”