PARIS – The internet blackout imposed by Iranian authorities at the start of the Middle East war has entered an “unprecedented” 50th day, according to the monitor NetBlocks.
“Iran has now been isolated from the global internet for seven weeks with the digital blackout entering its 50th day after 1176 hours,” NetBlocks said on X.
“Metrics show the measure, unprecedented for a connected society, continues to the detriment of most Iranians’ livelihoods and human rights.”
The blackout in Iran, which was imposed soon after the US and Israel attacked the country on Feb 28, was already the longest nationwide shutdown on record as of April 5, according to NetBlocks.
The monitor noted at the time that some countries had experienced intermittent or regional-level shutdowns over longer periods, while North Korea had never been connected to the global internet at all.
Iran’s extremely restricted local intranet has been working throughout the war, enabling people to connect to domestic websites.
To connect to the global web for news or to banned social media networks such as Instagram, some resort to virtual private networks (VPNs) to disguise their IP addresses in rare moments when network bandwidth is available.
Iranians suspected of using VPNs since the war began have received text messages warning them of arrest or imprisonment.
Far more limited numbers of people have access to Starlink or other satellite-based internet providers, which are also banned.
Iranians were previously placed under an 18-day internet blackout in January amid anti-government protests during which thousands were killed. AFP