Judicial Order Tied to Previously Undeclared Policy of App Usage Level
2019-01-04 – Eight months after Iran blocked the country’s most widely used messaging app, Telegram, a deputy prosecutor has announced a judicial order to also filter Instagram due to what he described as over-usage of the social media app.
Instagram had not been blocked as of January 4, 2018, and it is unknown when the order will go into effect.
Jan. 01. 2019 – COINTELEGRAPH – By: Aaron Wood – The Iranian government has taken further steps against Telegram’s cryptocurrency development, the Tehran Times reports Dec. 31.
Secretary of the Criminal Content Definition Task Force Javad Javidnia has declared that any cooperation with the encrypted messaging app to launch its Gram token will be considered an act against national security and a disruption to the national economy. Javidnia stated:
Iranian Client Apps Are Violating Telegram’s Terms of Service by Failing to Protect User Data
December 17, 2018 – In response to a rising chorus of concerns by internet security experts, Telegram, the widely used instant messaging app, has issued a warning to users of the Iranian-made versions of Telegram (known as “client apps”), Telegram Talaeii and Hotgram, which reportedly have 30 million users between them, that the apps are “unsafe.”
Ban Unlikely to Stop Most of Telegram’s 40 Million Users in Iran
May 1, 2018–The Iranian Judiciary has ordered internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to the country’s most used messaging app, Telegram, in an attempt to thwart an estimated 40 million Iranians’ open access to information.
Jan 09. 2018- Los Angeles Times – By MELISSA ETEHAD – When Iranian authorities cracked down on the internet this month in an attempt to suppress unrest, tech entrepreneur Milad Nouri did what he has grown accustomed to doing: He found a way around the censors.
