Khorramabadi: Membership in Filtered Networks like Twitter is an Offense

While the office of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic and many other official figures in Iran have accounts on Twitter, the Secretary of the Working Group for Determining Criminal Internet Content announced that membership in filtered social networks like Twitter is an "offense." According to Fars News Agency, Abdolsamad Khorramabadi stated on Tuesday, August 14, that membership in filtered social networks is an "offense." He emphasized that Twitter has been filtered by judicial order and that "violating judicial orders is unacceptable." Khorramabadi also announced that the membership of officials from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in Twitter is "problematic" and that this ministry, which implements judicial orders regarding filtering, should not consider itself an exception. He stressed that the Ministry of Communications, as responsible for creating the National Information Network, "should not be the leader in membership in foreign networks." On Wednesday, July 19, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology had asked the Filtering Criteria Determination Working Group to reconsider the filtering of Twitter. However, after that, Kamal Hadianfar, head of Iran's Cyber Police, emphasized that this network will remain filtered in Iran. Twitter, along with Facebook, is one of the most important social media platforms that the Iranian government has blocked to prevent its citizens from accessing freely. This social network is filtered in Iran while many officials and figures of the Islamic Republic are active on it, including the office of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Hassan Rouhani, and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. The issue of filtering Telegram has also been a topic of discussion between government officials and the judiciary in recent years. Meanwhile, the head of the Center for Information Technology and Digital Media of the Ministry of Culture stated on Tuesday that decisions about Telegram are "only at the level of the heads of the three branches." According to Mehr News Agency, Morteza Mousavian reported that more than 12,000 Telegram channels have been registered, and the identities of their admins have been identified. According to Mousavian, all registered channels have fewer than five thousand members, but more than 60% of channels with over 500,000 members have been registered. He also mentioned that 800 registered channels have been removed from registration due to "violations," and their registration documents at the Ministry of Culture have been suspended. The Minister of Communications and Information Technology had announced a new resolution from the Supreme Council of Cyberspace in mid-December 2016, which stated that news channels on social networks with more than five thousand members must obtain a license. Following that, the International Human Rights Campaign in Iran reported that the Cyber Police summoned and interrogated the managers of several popular Telegram channels, and subsequently "hacked" and removed these channels from access. Security-judicial officials and the Ministry of Culture have previously reported the filtering of thousands of Telegram channels. Meanwhile, nine managers of Telegram channels close to the government and reformists were arrested in March of last year. Some of these individuals were released after three months, while others were released after about six months. On Tuesday, Ali Mojtahedzadeh, the lawyer for two of the defendants in this case, reported that the second court session for eight managers of Telegram channels was held in the Revolutionary Court. He stated that due to the non-public nature of the court, he is unable to disclose details. The proceedings for this case began on Sunday, August 13, and will continue until Wednesday.