Legal Cases Formed Against Managers of Dozens of Modeling Pages on Instagram

A center affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that in a project called 'Spider Project 2' on social media, especially Instagram, after 'identifying' 170 individuals managing modeling pages, legal cases have been formed against 29 of them, resulting in the arrest of 8 individuals while the others were summoned. The Cyber Organized Crime Center, linked to the IRGC, reported on Sunday, May 15, on the 'Gerdab' website, that several stages of 'cross-border operations' have been conducted to 'deal' with the operators of these networks in neighboring and Western countries. According to this center, in this project, '170 individuals managing' modeling pages were identified, including 58 models, 51 boutique managers and fashion designers, 59 photographers and makeup artists, and two institutions active in the fashion field. The report states that legal cases have been formed against 29 of the 'main managers and affiliates' of modeling pages on social media, leading to the arrest of eight individuals, the summoning of the others, and the sealing of 'places related to their crimes.' The Organized Crime Investigation Center also announced that 'multi-stage cross-border operations' have been carried out for 'surveillance and decisive action' against some 'elements' of these pages in 'neighboring and Western' countries, with 'visual documentation to be published subsequently.' The center did not mention the names of the arrested individuals. On Sunday, Iranian state television broadcast statements from Elham Arab, one of the well-known models on social media, in front of several Tehran Prosecutor's Office managers. In the video, resembling an interrogation session, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran prosecutor, asks Ms. Arab about how models operate on social media. After her remarks, the Tehran prosecutor stated that 'a large number of beauty salons and photography studios have been under the supervision of intelligence and judicial systems, leading to significant arrests in this area and the closure of many Instagram pages.' The Cyber Organized Crime Center of the IRGC had previously claimed on Sunday, March 1, 2015, that it had 'surveillance' over 'approximately eight million likes' on Facebook as part of a project called 'Spider.' This center also reported in Bahman of the same year about the arrest of several operators of Facebook pages without naming them. Following that, news websites reported that these individuals were sentenced to a total of 127 years in the initial court, which was reduced to 45 years in the appeals court. 'Instagram is seeking to change lifestyle.' In its report on Sunday, the Cyber Organized Crime Center also claimed that the operators of Instagram are seeking to 'change the Iranian-Islamic lifestyle,' evidenced by '20% of this network's space being occupied by modeling and professional vulgarity topics.' The center also stated that it has compiled 'an accurate database of over 300 prominent pages on Instagram,' including 'posts, followers, followings, likers, and commenters,' which, according to this center, indicates that most 'actions of activists in this field are completely intelligent and have a network structure.' In recent years, especially after the rise of Hassan Rouhani's government, institutions close to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic have repeatedly warned about what they call the negative effects of social networks and have published reports about the arrest of several users of these networks. For instance, Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, the head of the Supreme Leader's office, reported that in September 2015, a meeting of the heads of the three branches with the Supreme Leader was held regarding the 'dangers of cyberspace' for youth. Meanwhile, Ayatollah Khamenei referred to 'cyberspace' as a 'real battlefield' and stated that 'clergymen and students must be armed and ready to enter the arena to confront doubts and erroneous and deviant thoughts.'