The Iranian authorities have been grappling with how to limit the use of foreign social media apps in the country. On April 30, the Iranian judiciary ordered the filtering of Telegram against the will of the administration. While the political, security and cultural motivations behind such moves are clear, few seem to have paid much attention to the fact that each ban on technology-driven services incurs costs to the Iranian economy and leads to job losses in a country where generating employment is the top political priority. In this vein, it is important to examine the socio-economic and economic consequences of restricting social media apps and what the authorities need to understand to get their priorities right.

There are 40 million Telegram users in Iran, and they use it both as a messaging tool and a social media platform. For many Iranians, Telegram has become the main point of access to a wide range of information as well as a platform for small businesses, advertising and health-related services.

In a country that has continuously witnessed a clampdown on newspapers and other publications, the blocking of a virtual service like Telegram may not come as a surprise, but in economic terms, the banning of the popular app is more dramatic than the closure of a print media outlet. One key difference is obviously the feasibility of such a ban. Interestingly, a brief analysis of the judicial instruction to ban Telegram indicates that the judiciary instructed the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology to make it inaccessible inside Iran even with circumvention tools. From a technical point of view, this instruction amounts to the blocking of Telegram and all other routes that could facilitate indirect access through anti-filtering software. Technical experts agree that such a blockade would seal off many IPs, protocols and ports within the country’s internet infrastructure, hence undermining the backbone of many economic, social and cultural activities — including official government services. For this reason, the administration — particularly Information and Communications Technology Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi — has opposed this policy. As a result of such blockades, which have targeted Telegram as well as Twitter, many legitimate activities of economic, social and governance significance have been undermined. In other words, the damage to the country is not just of a social nature, but also strongly of an economic nature, going far beyond the small businesses that rely on communication through Telegram. Furthermore, the blockade compels users to utilize the services of virtual private networks, which may offer a good platform for espionage and intelligence activity by other countries. Therefore, the blocking of popular apps and web-based services could also be counterproductive from a security perspective.

Not all Iranian politicians agree with the restrictions on social media. Apart from President Hassan Rouhani and many ministers in his administration, a number of parliamentarians have also indicated their opposition. After the protests over December and January, Mohammad Kazemi, deputy head of parliament’s commission on judicial issues, stated, “A permanent blockade of social networks does not serve the country’s interests as many people earn their living through such platforms. … Depriving those persons who live off such networks will lead to other disadvantages, hence any restriction should be minimal and short-term [and] related to security concerns.”