Telegram Content Distribution Servers in Iran Taken Offline

"The Communications Infrastructure Company" in Iran announced on Thursday morning, April 6, that the "Secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace" and the "Head of the National Cyberspace Center" informed the company that the license for the establishment of Telegram's Content Delivery Network (CDN) servers in Iran has been revoked, and as a result, the company has taken these servers offline. According to the announcement from the "Communications Infrastructure Company," with the implementation of this directive, data exchange on Telegram will now only be routed through the country's international communications, which "may lead to a decrease in the quality of using this messaging service." At the same time, several social media users in Iran reported slow and poor message transmission quality on Telegram since Thursday morning. Furthermore, the release of the "Communications Infrastructure Company" announcement has sparked a wave of reactions. Some users stated that despite the slow performance of Telegram, they prefer not to trust domestic messaging services. Hassan Namakdoost, a communications professor, described the slowing down of Telegram and recent directives as the "old communication model of the authorities." Some users also attributed the revocation of licenses to Telegram's opposition to the main demands of the Islamic Republic officials regarding access to user information. In recent weeks, contradictory news regarding the decision to block Telegram has surfaced. This news began after Aladdin Boroujerdi, the head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Parliament, announced on April 11 that Telegram would be blocked by the end of April. The news agency "House of the Nation" quoted Aladdin Boroujerdi as stating that this decision was made at the "highest level" of the government and "considering Telegram's destructive role." In Esfand 1396 (February-March 2018), some Telegram channels reported that in a meeting of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace attended by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamenei, he had "strongly" criticized the lifting of the Telegram ban. However, Hassan Rouhani, the President, and Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, the Minister of Communications, have expressed their opposition to blocking this messaging service. In January of last year, during the early days of nationwide protests in Iran, Telegram and Instagram were blocked, and security forces arrested several social media operators. However, after the unrest subsided, these two networks were unblocked again. Subsequently, several officials of the Islamic Republic stated that blocking Telegram would lead to the destruction of many businesses. For instance, Mohammad Reza Badamchi, a member of Parliament, stated that blocking Telegram would harm 200,000 jobs and disrupt the financial lives of half a million people. Telegram is one of the most popular social networks in Iran, with over 40 million Iranian users.