Iranians back online after months-long shutdown, but still face heavy restrictions
The Times of Israel • • general
Key Points:
- Iranians began regaining internet access after a months-long shutdown that started during nationwide protests in January and was intensified following U.S. and Israeli attacks in February, though service remains slow and heavily restricted.
- Internet connectivity is currently at about 86% of pre-shutdown capacity, but data usage is only around 40%, with widespread disruptions still reported by cybersecurity experts.
- The shutdown, one of the longest and strictest globally, severely impacted Iran’s economy, causing job losses, closure of online businesses, and inflated costs for internet services and VPNs.
- Despite partial restoration, many Iranians remain cautious about potential future outages, and popular social media platforms like YouTube and Instagram remain heavily censored.
- Iranian authorities justified the shutdown as a wartime necessity, but the prolonged outage has drawn criticism for exacerbating economic hardships and disrupting communication during ongoing unrest and conflict.