Reactions to the Broadcast of 'Confessions' on Television: #DanceUntilWeDance

The airing of a program on Iran's state television containing 'confessions' from several detainees who had posted videos of themselves dancing on Instagram has sparked a wave of reactions on social media. In this approximately 30-minute program, titled 'Documentary of the Wrong Path,' which aired on Friday evening, July 15, at least three girls and one boy, whose faces were blurred, respond to the host's sometimes lengthy questions about their activities on Instagram, and at times break down in tears during their answers. The names of the detainees are not mentioned in the program, but social media users have identified them as Maedeh Hejabi, Elnaz Ghazemi, Shadab, and Kami. According to reports, these individuals were released on bail shortly after their arrest, but their Instagram pages have been deleted. Following the broadcast of this program, social media users reacted using various hashtags, particularly commenting on the tears of one of the girls, identified as Maedeh Hejabi. In addition to ordinary users, several current and former officials of the Islamic Republic, including Shahab Esfandiari, a professor at the 'University of Broadcasting and Television,' as well as journalists and former political prisoners, also tweeted about this issue. The credits of the program that aired on Iran's state television also show the name of the 'Social Deputy of the Law Enforcement Force.' About two months ago, Kamal Hadianfar, the then-head of the Tehran Cyber Police, stated that special forces were reviewing 51,000 Instagram pages. Touraj Kazemi, the current head of this law enforcement agency, also told ILNA news agency that one-third of the cases related to 'Instagram stars' have been resolved so far. In recent years, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) initially arrested several Facebook users in 2014 under a plan called 'Spider 1,' accusing them of 'promoting corruption' and 'subverting Iranian lifestyle.' The Cyber Organized Crime Investigation Center affiliated with the IRGC again arrested dozens of users from various social media platforms in 2016 under the plan known as 'Spider 2,' targeting those in modeling, fashion, and photography. International organizations have consistently described Iran as one of the 'main enemies' of the internet and cyberspace in recent years. For instance, Reporters Without Borders has labeled the Iranian government as an 'internet enemy' alongside a few other governments in its reports, and the Freedom House organization recently ranked the Islamic Republic fourth from the bottom on its 'Internet Freedom' index.