The internet blackout in Iran has lasted more than two months, the longest on record. For millions of people who rely online for a living, the vacuum is devastating.
But some users have had privileged access through something called “Internet Pro,” which has sparked widespread public criticism. The program, launched earlier this year, is seen as another weapon that could allow hardliners and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to take control of Iran.
Iranian state media boasts of the government and people’s unity in the face of an “imposed war” by the United States and Israel, but a debate over who gets how much internet access has spilled into the media and engulfed the highest levels of government.
Iranians say they are increasingly frustrated with being cut off and spending what little money they have on occasional glimpses of the outside world.
“Imagine dealing with unemployment and skyrocketing inflation and somehow scraping together 500,000 or 1 million tomans (about $13) and just spending it on a few gigabytes of VPN to access X and other platforms, check the news, and speak out,” said Faraz, a 38-year-old resident of Tehran. The average monthly salary in Iran is 20 million to 35 million tomans ($240 to $420).
“And then in the midst of all this stress and frustration, when you finally manage to open X or Telegram, you see people with unlimited access acting like everything is normal. It honestly feels like a punch in the gut,” Faraz told CNN.
VPN (virtual private network) services are tools that hide your location online, and many people in Iran use them via the black market to circumvent internet blocks.
Sales of Internet Pro began in February through the Mobile Communications Company of Iran (MCI) after companies complained that their access was severely restricted and damaged during the nationwide protests in January. MCI is owned by a consortium with close ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Internet Pro focuses on connection stability and less restrictive access to international sites. Essentially, the same level of access that was once available to everyone will now be available to a lucky few. Users must pass a verification process and be in a business, academic, or scientific role.
But many Iranians complain that it will widen the already wide gap between rich and poor.
According to the independent publication Khabar Online, “Iranian society is divided into two distinct classes: the digital elite, who enjoy fast, unfiltered channels for business, education, and communication, and the digital subjects, who are trapped within the strict filters, limited speeds, and high costs of a black-market VPN economy.”
“The main issue is no longer just filtering or shutting down, but rather the redefinition of the right to access the internet,” lawyer Mohammad Hamid Shahriwal said in an interview with Sharg news agency.
Prices for black-market VPN apps have soared, and the loss of internet access has cost Iranians about $1.8 billion in the past two months, according to the overseas-based Iranian Human Rights Defenders Association (HRA). This is in line with estimates by the Iranian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“The shutdown of the Internet, which was itself a source of livelihood for so many virtual businesses, has created a dire and complicated situation,” complained the newspaper Eterraat.
Iran has repeatedly shut down the internet during periods of unrest, with access to the world’s internet severely restricted or completely blocked, and foreign websites and apps inaccessible. During large-scale shutdowns, authorities often keep parts of the country’s internet up and running, cutting off communications with the outside world while allowing access to local banks and government services.
The current power outage began on January 8, amid anti-government protests. Restrictions were partially eased in February but were tightened again after the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28th.
Reports from the country suggest that Internet Pro works through a communications-level “whitelist” associated with so-called “white SIM cards,” where certain SIM cards, mobile accounts, or institutions are exempted from national filtering systems.
Unlike VPNs, which bypass censorship by encrypting your internet traffic, Internet Pro appears to route pre-approved users through a less restrictive gateway. Users with white SIMs reportedly retain full global internet access.
The price of Internet Pro includes a one-year 50 gigabyte package that costs about 2 million tomans, plus 2.8 million tomans, plus an activation fee of about 40,000 tomans for each additional gigabyte. By comparison, regular internet, which is now heavily restricted, costs 8,000 tomans per gigabyte, making VPN services the only option for many people.
There are other ways to access unlimited internet, but they come with significant risks. Many Starlink satellite receivers have been smuggled into the country, allowing users to circumvent restrictions by connecting directly to SpaceX satellites. However, the device is illegal in Iran, and possession can lead to serious consequences, including national security arrest and prosecution.
The question of who gets better internet access has exposed divisions within the administration. The Internet Pro rollout plan was approved by the Supreme National Security Council in February, but President Massoud Pezeshkian’s government declared it opposed gradual access.
Mr. Pezeshkian’s office said last month that restrictions on people’s access to the global internet are unjustified and that the agency has not provided a rationale for such a system. “They are falling short in this respect,” he said.
Communications Minister Sattar Hashemi asserted that quality access to the internet is the right of all Iranians.
“A hierarchical internet or ‘whitelist’ system has no effect,” Hashemi said. Hashemi’s senior adviser stressed that the ministry had no ties to Internet Pro, which was designed to help companies maintain service stability during the crisis, but that it was “now being exploited.”
But analysts say more hardline officials support the policy. Among them is Mohammad Amin Agamiri, who runs the authority governing the management of cyberspace.
Agamiri was sanctioned by the United States and Britain in 2023 for human rights violations related to the crackdown on protests in Iran.
Some labor groups, including Iran’s 300,000-member nurses’ union and various lawyer groups, are refusing to use Internet Pro in solidarity with ordinary workers who rely on it.
It has also been criticized by the Iranian Psychiatric Association.
“Unequal patterns of global internet access can lead to increased psychological stress, feelings of being overlooked and marginalized (and) reduced public trust,” the association said last week.
Officials forced to go on the defensive cite several reasons for the tiered system.
“The reason for the temporary restrictions is to prevent the recurrence of destructive cyber-attacks on the country’s critical infrastructure,” an unnamed official quoted by the Fars news agency claimed.
The official claimed that Internet Pro is a crisis measure designed to “provide services to specific professions such as professors, doctors, journalists, and programmers with minimal disruption.”
Internet Pro SIM cards have become available on the black market, sparking public outrage over profiteering among those with privileged access to the internet.
“It is unacceptable that unqualified individuals and profiteers misuse this platform for economic abuse,” Attorney General Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said, calling on prosecutors to address “discriminatory and corrupt” access.
Iran’s reformists seem to feel that this is one of the issues that has popular support. The Iran Reform Front, an organization of moderates, said this discriminatory approach was “widely seen as sustaining the VPN black market, exploiting people’s plight and furthering feelings of injustice.”
Frustrations over who can do what online are causing public divisions across Iranian society as the regime seeks to present a united front against the United States and Israel.
