Warning to the Ministry of Communications: Telegram Will Be Filtered If It Does Not Remove Criminal Content

The working group for determining internet criminal content in Iran has warned the Ministry of Communications that if the Telegram messaging app does not take necessary actions to remove "criminal content" and comply with the "regulations of the Islamic Republic" within a "limited time", it will be filtered. According to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, the secretary of the working group, announced that this issue was discussed in their meeting on Wednesday, November 18. Khorramshahi stated that based on the group's resolution, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology is obligated to filter Telegram if it does not take necessary actions regarding the removal of criminal content and adherence to the laws of the Islamic Republic within a limited time. He did not specify details about the "criminal content" on Telegram. Despite this resolution, Mahmoud Vaezi, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, stated on Wednesday that he does not believe the network will be filtered. He emphasized that the discussion about filtering Telegram has become "propagandistic". Vaezi mentioned that Telegram's management has responded to the requests of the Iranian Ministry of Communications by stating that they have hired a "special employee for Iran" and will try to prevent the dissemination of "inappropriate and unethical topics". The minister had previously stated that Telegram would not face obstacles to operate in Iran as long as it adheres to "red lines" and blocks "obscene channels". However, Khorramshahi had previously stated that the reason for discussing the blocking of some foreign social networks is that many of these networks are run by Zionists and do not comply with the laws and regulations of the country. Meanwhile, Rouhollah Momen Nasab, the deputy of new media at the Basij Cyber Space Center, stated in a television program that the founder of Telegram is a "friend" of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, and that his "office" is also in Israel. He emphasized without citing specific statistical sources that "75 percent" of Telegram users are Iranian, and the shares of Germany, England, and Israel among the users of this messaging app are "zero". The Tabnak website criticized Momen Nasab's statements, reporting that according to the latest statistics, "only about 45 percent" of the total traffic to Telegram's server comes from Iran, while 17 percent comes from the United States, six percent from Russia, three percent from England, and about three percent from Germany. In this context, the Qazvin IRGC announced that they have destroyed obscene mobile networks and that blocking Telegram remains on the agenda. One hundred hackers were arrested, and twenty Telegram channels were blocked by the police. The publication of images of a young man with several girls on Telegram led to his arrest.