Iran’s supreme leader, Khamenei calls for regulation of cyberspace

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, who has implemented some of the world’s tightest internet access rules, stated that cyberspace needed to be managed, citing the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France as an example of how other countries have enforced controls.

Khamenei stated during a meeting with relatively moderate President Masoud Pezeshkian and his Cabinet that “there should be laws to govern cyberspace. This is something that everyone does. “Look at the French; they arrested this man and threatened him with 20 years in prison for violating their laws.”

The Islamic Republic has some of the strictest internet controls in the world but its blocks on US-based social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are routinely bypassed by tech-savvy Iranians using virtual private networks (VPNs).

Russian-born Durov, also a citizen of France and the United Arab Emirates, was arrested in Paris as part of an investigation into crimes related to sexual abuse of children, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions on the platform, French prosecutors said on Monday.

His platform has been blocked in the Islamic Republic.

Iran regularly charges internet users based on posts they share online.

Iran ranked third globally in the number of times it shut down the internet in 2023, according to the digital rights group Access Now.

This included shutting down mobile networks, both nationally and in targeted areas, while also blocking access to Instagram and WhatsApp, the only two major platforms not already subject to outright bans, Access Now said.