Iranian Digital Censorship: A Step Towards Atrocity
- Genocide Watch
- 6 minutes ago
- 3 min read
With the rise of the digital era emerges the opportunity for governments to manipulate technology and use it as a means of repression. Iran has used various means of censorship to limit citizens’ access to independent media: it has slowed down internet access or “throttling,” caused internet blackouts, nationalized the internet, and more. During the 2025 conflict between Iran and Israel, when more than 90 million Iranians were taken offline, Iran used internet blackouts, leaving the Iranian population without warning of when aerial strikes will occur and placing them at extreme risk.
History of Digital Censorship in Iran
Over the past two decades, the Iranian government has repeatedly shut down the internet as a means of quelling uprisings and protests, most prominently during the Green Movement Protests of 2009 and the Gas Price Protests of 2019. During this period, the Iranian government used a plethora of methods to restrict internet access for their population, including short and long-term internet outages, restrictions such as filtering, domestic regulations, and speed limitations through minimizing international bandwidth. This not only limits access to media for citizens, but also hinders vital communications between individuals.
The Green Movement Protests of 2009 led to an internet blackout in the weeks surrounding the presidential elections, as the re-election of the prior president was widely believed to be fraudulent. However, the Iranian government disputed these claims and used forceful measures to enforce the election result, which led to the death of hundreds of individuals. In addition, the Iranian government filtered access to foreign media and any opposition websites that promoted the reformist agenda of the incumbent’s opponent.
The Gas Price Protests occurred due to a violent spike in gas prices caused by the government in November of 2019. In the midst of economic turmoil, citizens protested the increase, fearful that they could no longer afford fuel. This led to a government-controlled blackout, where the entire population lacked access to the internet for a period of five days. During those five days, 323 people were killed, a serious violation of human rights with no consequences, as there was no documentation of the atrocities due to the internet shutdown.
Blackouts also occurred in response to the Women Life Freedom protests in 2022, triggered by Mahsa Amini’s death. Thousands of women protested in response to her murder by the morality police. Over 551 Iranians are believed to have died at the hands of the government during the protests. Once again, consequences eluded the government because this violence could not be documented due to the internet blackout.
The most recent significant use of censorship occurred in June 2025 during the dropping of aerial bombs by Israel on Iranian territory. Iran shut down the internet and limited the population’s access to the media, not only limiting their access to their families, but also to the news channels informing citizens where the designated safe areas were amidst Israeli strikes. In this case, the government escalated censorship to limit pushback at the detriment of their own citizens’ safety.
It is clear that there is no one defined reason for Iranian censorship, aside from combatting government criticism. From election fraud to economic deterioration, women’s rights, and war with Israel, the Iranian government has responded by protecting its power and authority. Such authority is maintained to the detriment of the citizens who have died at the hands of the government but also simply because of restricted access to vital humanitarian information.
Linking Censorship and Atrocity
Effective and truthful media coverage acts as an “early warning” mechanism for genocide, aside from providing necessary information when it comes to humanitarian protection in conflict. As foreign correspondents disappear, and news proliferates from local sources and social media, the risk for falsified information increases as a result of artificial intelligence. With internet blockage, documentation and recognition of human rights atrocities dwindles when authoritarian regimes and citizens clash without evidence of humanitarian breaches. Furthermore, the media tends to skew towards conflict, mainly focused on the countries from which they are reporting. Countries without representative media are systematically underrepresented and risk their conflict and atrocities going unnoticed. In 2024, 296 internet shutdowns were recorded in 54 countries, a 35% increase from 2022 and evidence of a global increase in weaponization of the internet.
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