Iranian authorities appeared to be cutting off internet access in the capital and other regions on Thursday during the 12th Mass Day. protests and chants against the government. Two sources in Tehran told CBS News that internet was down in the capital.
The The monitoring organization NetBlocks said At around 20:00 local time on Thursday, its live data showed “Tehran and other parts of Iran are entering a digital blackout as internet connectivity drops from multiple providers; new incidents are likely to follow regional blackouts, and coverage of events is likely to be severely limited as protests spread.”
A source in the capital told CBS News that “there were huge crowds all over Tehran. Unprecedented.”
They also said the internet was down for most people in the city, but some with stronger and more reliable business accounts could still get online.
The blackout came as Iranians started shouting against the regime from their windows, after exiled Iranian Prince Reza Pahlavi, son of the US-backed former shah, called for his voice to be heard. Analysts and insiders told CBS News that the size of the response to Pahalvi’s call could determine whether it turns out to be fatal. 12 days of protests as previous unrest has been, or grow into a major challenge to the government and possibly lead to a wider crackdown.
The riots have so far left at least 39 people dead, including four members of the security services, and more than 2,260 others have been arrested, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
NetBlocks previously said its “data shows loss of connectivity #Iran Internet backbone provider TCI in the city of Kermanshah, as nationwide protests spread on the 12th day; The incident comes amid signs of disruption in the death toll in many regions.”
Iranian authorities regularly restrict or disable Internet access in anticipation of major protests or other potentially destabilizing events.
President Mahsoud Pezeshkian, seen as a reformer but subordinate to Iran’s longtime supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said ahead of the 2024 election that he would free up the Internet and make more websites accessible. It remains very limited, however. Social media sites like TikTok, Facebook and X are officially banned, as is access to US and European news, including CBS News.
Many young and tech-savvy advertisers have become adept at dealing with the restrictions, but it’s a cumbersome process, and when the regime slows down internet speeds during politically sensitive times, the entire system can become unusable.