Protection against censorship; removing the direct voice of the margins is the result of the protection of the virtual space / Mandana Sadeghi.
Since the whisper of the plan for “National Regulations for the Virtual Space of the Country”, known as the “Virtual Space Protection Plan”, intensified, those in charge of this matter have been trying to explain it through various media and platforms. This is to alleviate fears of filtering foreign platforms – which is said will not be filtered as soon as an official representative is introduced in another country – and to promote and praise popular Iranian platforms.
However, none of these explanations and confirmations or denials by Baharestani have been able to satisfy the public about how the plan has been implemented up to this moment.
The internet shutdowns in December 2017, November 2019, and summer 2021 in Khuzestan demonstrated that social media networks and overall access to the internet are equally important and fundamental for both the government and society.
However, evidence shows that this collaboration should not be interpreted as a collaboration in “profit and loss”, but rather in the sense of collaboration in “importance of the subject”.
With a look at what the society has gone through during these forty-three years of the Islamic Republic’s rule, one can clearly see the traces of elimination, censorship, and control of anything that does not align with the regime’s ideological propaganda. It all started with the closure of critical newspapers and various forms of censorship at the beginning of the revolution, and continued with the pre-publication censorship of books and the confiscation of Iranian filmmakers’ films, as well as the strict censorship of foreign films and series for two decades. This control system extended to all aspects of the country, including small and large film, theater, music, poetry, and fiction festivals, and even went as far as removing musical instruments from television screens. Eventually, it led to the criminalization of tools such as video and satellite.
The output of this lengthy history has been the domination and circulation of information through media (especially visual and paper media) which has not yet been able to eliminate the voice of criticism and opposition.
To understand the examples of systematic censorship by the ruling government in dealing with the removal of voices outside the dominant discourse of the Islamic Revolution, regarding the freedom of societies, one can look at the most important activities of the government before the crackdown on peaceful gatherings of women’s equality activists in the streets of Tehran, or scattered protests of people living in the outskirts of the city, or protests against water shortages in Abadan (1977), or scattered labor strikes. By taking control of the media through censorship, intimidation, and even using security or government forces in the form of a managing director or owner, the government has been able to create a new serious obstacle to the connection between different sections of protesting and criticizing societies, where the possibility of their voice being heard was diminished.
The disclosure of a large part of the unseen archive of the national broadcasting organization in the virtual space confirms the widespread censorship of various voices in society by the authorities since the beginning of the revolution; from the prohibition of the voice and image of a young girl expressing her opinion on “voting for the constitution” to the censorship of speeches by high-ranking officials that were deemed appropriate for the post-revolutionary conditions after their initial statements were made decades ago! From promoting forced and fabricated confessions to the silence surrounding the highly-watched program “90”, all fall under the rule of media control by the regime.
From this, it can be well understood that the problem for the designers of the “Virtual Space Protection Plan” is not platforms like Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Twitter, but rather the problem is the voices that find the opportunity to express themselves through these platforms and are brought into the public sphere; voices that are not favored by the government and it tries to prevent their reflection through any means.
While almost all individuals affiliated with government and ruling institutions are actively present on foreign platforms and use these platforms to articulate values, perspectives, and policies of the system.
It can be said with certainty that the main reason for the designers of the Spring Garden to control the virtual space is the understanding of the lack of control over platforms that have the ability to “network”, “cohesion” and “cooperation” among members of society. By controlling it, they can silence the unity of different voices around a single issue, as they did in December 2017, November 2019, and summer 2021.
The study of the history of censorship and control shows that with the advancement of technology and the emergence of non-governmental social networks outside the realm of government decision-making, the system is forced to have a repressive, controlling and directive approach with the emerging platforms of each period. It is clear that in this period, it wants to tighten the belt of the country’s virtual and media space so much that there is no room for an extra bite in the future.
With a look at the composition of the “High Commission for Regulating Country’s Virtual Space” which is formed by the National Center for Virtual Space, the Attorney General’s Office, the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Communications, the Ministry of Intelligence, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the Law Enforcement Force, one can easily uncover the hidden goals of the policymakers behind this plan.
The implementation of this plan not only puts the owners of online businesses at serious risk of being eliminated from the market and facing a significant decrease in trade, but also severely limits the expression of opinions, reporting of daily living conditions in remote areas by civil activists, and reporting by local residents, which will greatly restrict their freedom.
People without access, due to living in remote and underprivileged areas, to various media facilities in the center, are deprived of any media support and are left without any independent civil institutions. Not only do they have no access to official news (because state media deliberately censor their images), but they are also denied the chance to be seen at all.
Deleting and censoring the virtual space, controlling users, and even criminalizing the use of VPNs and certain platforms, if the only solution for the government and the system to whitewash the current situation and homogenize internal voices, is as much of a fatal blow to the frail body of freedom of expression and information circulation; because these same universal platforms, with their simple capabilities, have been able to turn some highly repetitive issues in unfamiliar regions into real, unmediated, and unedited voices in these areas over the years, making them the country’s current topics; from a home that drags Asiya towards death to the way government institutions respond to floods and earthquakes, we owe it to the virtual space and the hands that did not wait for the pens and cameras of the centralists.
Protecting the virtual space is like protecting a duty that shoots an arrow at the vulnerable child and teenager, and targets the chest of the protesting teenager in Khorramshahr with a real bullet.
Cyber protection is protecting a space that no longer wants other workers, like the workers of Haft Tappeh, to change it for their own benefit and the anti-corruption movement.
Creating disruptions in the virtual space and slowing down internet speed, if causing irreparable damage to the decrease in sales of mantos and celebrity likes, will completely eliminate and silence the voices of boycotted citizens and forgotten villagers.
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