When hard-liners in Iran succeeded in banning the popular smartphone messaging app Telegram, they were unlikely to have predicted that they would return to the very same platform seven months later.

On April 30, the conservative-dominated judiciary ordered internet service providers to block access to Telegram, despite opposition from Iran's moderate government. The messaging app, which has more than 42 million users in Iran, played a major role in the re-election of President Hassan Rouhani in 2017. Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani, the head of Iran's judiciary, said the judiciary acted against the app due to "thousands of lawsuits" against Telegram.

"[We] contacted the Telegram authorities through the responsible officials [in Iran] and [we] asked them to help identify and introduce the offenders, but they did not [provide any help] on this matter," claimed Amoli Larijani on May 7. "That a messaging [application] becomes a safe haven for criminal acts and individuals [to] commit any criminal offense, from frauds to crimes against the reputation of persons and terrorist acts, is not acceptable for any country. Is it reasonable and logical to accept that a person, while offering some services in a physical and realistic way, turns that place into a safe haven for criminals? Cyberspace has exactly the same status."

The judiciary thus ordered internet service providers to "block Telegram so that it won’t even be accessible through proxy tools." However, the judiciary’s wish did not come true, as Iranians bypassed the ban through proxies.