The internet in Iran has been restricted for more than a week, which condition, according to some monitoring websites, has been unprecedented in the modern history of the country’s communications.
At present, different platforms on the internet are tied to the lives of ordinary people and hence a huge cost is being imposed on the economy and small businesses, although the disruption is based on security grounds.
Statistics show that the share of online trade increased from 1.3% of Iran’s total trade in the fiscal 2017-18 to 5% in 2021-22. This is far below the global average (more than 20%), yet we need to bear in mind that it has happened under sanctions and various restrictions, the Persian daily Etemad reported.
Seventy-one million people in Iran use the internet. According to the Statistical Center of Iran, the lives of 11 million Iranians are completely dependent on Instagram, the photo and video sharing social networking service.
Instagram hosts 1.7 million small local businesses. Compare this figure with nearly 200,000 direct jobs created by Iran’s automotive industry. Online businesses start operating with minimal investment. They can create a business on social network platforms with only 200 to 300 million rials [$625-935] whereas the capital needed to create a job in industry nears 14 billion rials [$43,750].
Today, digital economy has the final say. No one is against industrialization or economic growth through the development of upstream industries, but do those in charge think of the costs they impose on small and large businesses when they cut off access to these online platforms?
Past experience shows that even after reconnecting the internet, many of the small businesses failed to regain their previous status. For example, after the internet blackout of 2019, nearly 18,000 businesses on Instagram did not return to their previous place. It’s not just Instagram.
Today, WhatsApp Messenger is so popular and widespread that it has struck out the fax machine from offices, organizations and companies. WhatsApp has infiltrated the warp and weft of all economic activities. Has anybody calculated the costs of internet filtering?
Whispers of Permanent Filtering
On Tuesday, Fars News Agency asked people whether it is better for Instagram to remain filtered permanently.
Recently, the parliament’s anti-internet proposal titled “Protection Bill” has been communicated in another form by the “High Council of Cyberspace” without going through legal requirements and the parliament’s approval. But the efforts made for the permanent filtering of platforms such as Instagram or WhatsApp are interesting in their own way.
Reza Olfatnasab, a member of Iran E-Commerce Union, believes that officials do not say whether these platforms will remain filtered or not once the current crisis ends; this is a worrying situation for online businesses.
“Many businesses have been established on the platform of Instagram; its filtering will deny people their incomes. We even witnessed that people who have websites and are active in major businesses still use Instagram for their marketing; these businesses will also face challenges if this platform remains inaccessible.”
Olfatnasab noted that some people are encouraging Minister of Information and Communications Technologies Issa Zarepour and other officials to make the filtering of Instagram and WhatsApp permanent, which is a very dangerous move.
Statistics show 2.5 million businesses in Iran are active on Instagram. Small, home-based businesses account for a large number of online businesses on this platform. The owners of these businesses are working for a living; between one and three people are running each business and they are mostly engaged in the food and handicraft sectors.
“Many people use Instagram because they trust it. The concentration of people in Instagram allows businesses to advertise their businesses and increase the sale of their products,” he said, noting that there is no alternative to Instagram in Iran.
Olfatnasab said domestic social networks are also being used for advertisement, but the truth is that the concentration in Instagram is unlike any other social networks.
“Some people believe that they can push people from Instagram to domestic social networks overnight, which is not possible because social networks are not like electronic devices that are made in China and work in Iran,” he said.
“They need people’s presence and trust. They need timing; the real private sector that does not depend on any organization should launch such platforms.”
He stressed that the infrastructures are not prepared for the launch of a domestic counterpart of Instagram.
“Legal requirements should also be met. The law in Iran requires the owner of the content to be the same person who publishes that content; even the judiciary holds the publisher accountable for the content,” he said.
Noting that the Statistical Center of Iran reported a few months ago that about 11 million people are making a living from Instagram, he said, “This is not a small number, especially after the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many offline businesses joined Instagram and it became even more popular. Economic security will be hurt if the current situation persists. Huge losses have been inflicted on online businesses during these past days. Concerns need to be resolved. The telecom minister should calm down people who have suffered from this situation. Instagram and WhatsApp need to return to their previous conditions,” he concluded.
