Censorship in Iran
[1] In the Freedom House Index, Iran scored low on political rights and civil liberties and has been classified as 'not free.
[4][5] The Iranian government and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps persistently block social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram[6][7][8][9] as well as many popular websites such as Blogger, HBO, YouTube, and Netflix.
[10] Despite the state-wide ban, some Iranian politicians use social networks, including Twitter and Facebook, to communicate with their followers.
[18][19] Millions of Iranians stay connected on social media despite the government's restrictions [20] by using proxies or virtual private networks (VPNs).
[26] At the head of this bureaucratic organization are both the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance and the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.
Article 500 of the penal code states: "Anyone who engages in any type of propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran or in support of opposition groups and associations shall be sentenced to three months to one year of imprisonment.
In situations of crisis, the state tries to get power back by controlling information streams and thereby denying opposition groups influence on the public debate.
Its goal is to prevent unapproved reformists, Counter-Revolutionaries, or religious proponents, peaceful or otherwise, from organizing themselves and spreading their ideas.
"[35] Despite a ban on satellite television, dishes are on many Iranian rooftops, and people have access to dozens of Persian-language channels, including the Voice of America, broadcasting a daily dose of politics and entertainment.
[36] A number of unauthorized foreign radio services also broadcast into Iran on shortwave and encounter occasional jamming by the Iranian government due to their controversial nature.
[37] In March 2009, Amoo Pourang (Uncle Pourang), a television show watched by millions of Iranian children three times a week on state TV, was pulled from broadcasting after a child appearing on the program called his pet monkey "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad" live on air.
This was done to influence the Persian-language sections of international media outlets such as the BBC Persian Service to broadcast pro-government programs and news.
With 20 million people on the Internet, Iran currently has the second-highest percentage of its population online in the Middle East, after Israel.
[40][41] In recent years, Internet service providers have been told to block access to pornographic and anti-religion websites.
The ban has also targeted gaming platforms, such as Steam, as well as popular social networking sites, like Facebook and YouTube, alongside some news websites.
[42][43][44] The Iranian government and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Sepah have routinely blocked popular social networks such as Facebook and Twitter,[45][46][47] and they decided to shut down the Internet during the protests in Iran in 2019.
[50][51][47] In 2010, the Iranian government started using cropping and other editing techniques to censor foreign movies deemed offensive or immoral.
