The Islamic Republic's Efforts to Produce Indigenous Applications

After imposing internet restrictions and temporarily blocking popular social media platforms like Telegram and Instagram following the peak of street protests, the Islamic Republic has taken steps to produce indigenous applications. In a short period after the protests last month, Iranian officials implemented these measures alongside reports of protesters being killed and thousands arrested, with accusations of protesters being 'tools of enemies' made by Iranian authorities. Nevertheless, Iranian officials are convinced that suppressing internet freedoms has effectively helped quell the surge of public anger. Ahmad Khatami, the Friday prayer leader of Tehran, stated during sermons that 'everyone saw that the virtual space was the firestarter of the turmoil. When the virtual space was limited, the sedition subsided.' He also mentioned that 'you say we oppose virtual space; we agree with virtual space that is controlled by the system. We do not agree with virtual space controlled by Americans.' It seems that the recent internet lesson has not been forgotten by Iranian officials. A new wave of efforts to launch indigenous applications to replace popular foreign social media platforms has begun. This week, it was announced that President Hassan Rouhani has instructed the Minister of Communications to mobilize the necessary investment and support for launching indigenous applications. Mahmoud Vaezi, Rouhani's chief of staff, stated last Wednesday that 'it is unacceptable for people to use a monopoly social network. Of course, it is the right of the people to use social networks, but from a national security perspective, there cannot be just one social network.' Rouhani's recent directive comes after years of calls from hardline factions to 'secure' the virtual space, although implementing this is somewhat difficult as part of the Iranian population accesses blocked sites and applications using VPNs. Currently, half of Iran's 82 million population uses Telegram, and with the widespread use of smartphones, Instagram has also gained many users in Iran. Recently, 170 members of parliament announced in a letter read at a public session on Tuesday, January 26, that in recent months, 'malicious and enemy forces have exploited some internal conditions to maximize the use of foreign messaging apps to create insecurity, corruption, and chaos in Iranian cities.' This statement mentioned 'the attack by ISIS on the Islamic Consultative Assembly, promoting violence, creating recent street riots, and selling drugs and psychotropic substances' as actions carried out 'within the framework of foreign messaging apps.' These representatives called for 'the replacement of domestic messaging apps for foreign ones and the regulation of VPNs.' Mohammad Reza Naqdi, the cultural and social deputy of the IRGC, also stated similarly, 'Why should we create jobs for Russian and American youth in this field instead of creating jobs for Iranian specialists?' Recently, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of Iran, announced through his Telegram channel the launch of his official account on the messaging apps 'I-Gap' and 'Soroush.' In this context, an internet foundation in London that exclusively follows human rights projects announced that Khamenei's action was apparently a green light for a 'new wave of aggression' to force people to use indigenous applications. Amin Sabati, one of the report's authors, stated that all of these actions were a reaction to the recent protests, although similar actions have occasionally occurred in previous administrations. For instance, a few years ago, the topic of national search engines was very hot... even once (Iranian officials) announced the launch of a domestic 'Google Earth,' but in practice, none of these actions were successful. He said that people do not trust (the authorities), especially those who are political activists or work in certain areas like fashion. Apparently, the fear of government surveillance and officials being informed about their activities is the reason for this distrust. Fatemeh Saidi, a member of parliament, recently told the Hamdeli newspaper that 'wiretapping phones should only be done in specific cases with court permission. If we see that national messaging apps are not very welcomed by the people, the issue of distrust arises.' Colin Anderson, an independent internet researcher who has studied Iranian policy and the virtual domain for years, believes that Iranians have the right to be concerned about indigenous messaging apps. In an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, he stated that all efforts seem to be aimed at getting Iranian users into messaging apps whose operators are entirely under the authority of the Iranian judiciary to provide users' personal information. 'Moreover, regardless of who these companies belong to, I think there is even concern about the apps themselves. When we look at the quality of these messaging apps or examine their design principles, it really raises the question of how secure these programs are for protecting users' personal information. In fact, these Iranian companies do not respect the culture of user rights, and their messaging apps can be extremely dangerous and insecure.' He said that apparently, Iranian officials want to implement a controlled internet model similar to China's. In his opinion, China has a truly unique model that, especially for political considerations, has eliminated its dependence on foreign servers. A 44-year-old woman from Tehran and mother of two, who wished to remain anonymous, also told the radio that she rejects the use of indigenous apps. 'I do not trust them, and I do not know anyone among my friends who uses these apps. Even when the government blocked Telegram, I accessed my account through a VPN.'