Montazeri: We confront hundreds or thousands of virtual corruption centers every week

Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the Attorney General of the country, has described the virtual space as "polluted and toxic," claiming that "people suffer from it" and asserting that every week they confront "hundreds and sometimes thousands of corruption centers" in the virtual space. In an interview with reporters on the sidelines of a gathering of advertisement police chiefs, Mr. Montazeri, who is a member of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, stated that "the virtual space has become so polluted and toxic that we constantly monitor it and identify and confront hundreds and sometimes thousands of corruption centers each week." This senior judicial official noted that "certainly, people suffer from this polluted space, and we are seeking to solve the problems." These remarks come less than a week after Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi's statements, who, in various meetings, likened a significant portion of the virtual space to a "swamp" and called for planning regarding it. In a meeting with the Minister of Science, he urged universities to take action to "prevent the spread of unhealthy virtual spaces" and also requested that students use the "opportunity of Ramadan" to "protect the youth." This cleric residing in Qom also mentioned in early May during a meeting with the Minister of Health that "the information we receive regarding virtual spaces is terrifying, and judicial officials and prosecutors must pay attention to the poor conditions of the virtual space." Recently, Ayatollah Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, described the virtual space as a "real battlefield" in a meeting with a group of students, emphasizing that "clergymen and students must be armed and prepared to enter the arena to counter doubts and erroneous and deviant thoughts [in the virtual space]." The recent positions of the Ayatollah regarding the virtual space have been reflected in the statements of the Attorney General, who mentioned that the leader of Iran is "dissatisfied" with the Ministry of Communications and the Supreme Council of Cyberspace. This judicial official added that "fortunately, his warnings had an effect, and proposals were made in the recent meeting of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace to organize social networks." In the latest meeting of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, held on Saturday, June 8, the emphasis was placed on prioritizing the issue of messaging networks, "based on the guidelines and concerns" of the leader of Iran. Among the resolutions of this meeting was the "obligation for foreign messaging companies" operating in the country to "transfer information and activities related to Iranian citizens" to inside Iran, and it was decided that "gradually and over a one-year transitional period," domestic messaging networks would continue, and with support and provision of facilities to these networks, "competitive conditions" with foreign online networks would be created. These decisions come at a time when, in the first meeting of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace in 2016, Hassan Rouhani, the President, emphasized the special importance of the virtual space and called for "more effective and appropriate steps" to be taken in this area. On April 8 of this year, Mr. Rouhani also emphasized in a meeting with the Minister of Communications and senior officials in this field that "corruption must be eradicated at its roots, and one way to combat corruption is to open up matters in the virtual space." The "concerns" of the leader of Iran regarding the virtual space and the warnings of judicial officials in this regard come at a time when many senior officials and figures of the Islamic Republic, including the office of Ayatollah Khamenei, have an active presence in social networks and the virtual space despite the restrictions on access to the virtual space for Iranian users.