How much does Instagram filtering harm Iran’s economy?

It can be said that among many representatives and officials of the country in recent years, there has been no more unpopular social network than Instagram, and without a doubt, if recent events had not happened in the country, this network would have been filtered and only recent events and unrest would have caused this issue to be brought up. The whisper of protecting the rights of users in the virtual space had been heard for a long time from the corridors of the parliament and there was also a lot of follow-up by representatives; of course, the issue of filtering also required prerequisites; including the introduction of similar messaging systems, which during this time, many measures were taken to introduce them. Rouhollah Momen-Nasab, whose name was on everyone’s lips after appearing on a television program and “Two Gig Internet” and is a supporter of filtering social networks, in an interview in August of this year, introduced domestic messaging apps as a replacement for Instagram and mentioned the names of five domestic social networks;

Perhaps it can be said that Instagram was the only popular and global social network that was able to escape the clutches of filtering in recent years and continue its activities despite all the threats. This has made Instagram a suitable platform for economic activities, allowing many people to turn their ideas into businesses and attract many customers. Both small and large businesses have seen this social platform as a showcase for their products and have been able to showcase them to the public. We all probably know people among our acquaintances who have started their own businesses through this social network and have achieved financial success. This trend has been particularly prominent among women. Making homemade food and cakes, selling clothes and flowers, making dolls, and thousands of other small businesses that have grown and flourished in this space have gradually become a larger part of the country’s economy and a powerful market. Ignoring this market could have had a negative impact on the country’s economy, but the problem is that there are no accurate statistics on the size and share

“Beta” as a research center, has introduced its customers from the Islamic Consultative Assembly to the Judiciary and from the government to the Expediency Discernment Council on its website. It has stated that there are two million active businesses on the internet on its website, of which sixty-four percent are owned by women. Seventy-one percent of the products are Iranian and domestically produced, and ten percent are related to the handicrafts and local productions. Finally, it was also mentioned that only nineteen percent of these businesses have a physical store.

The Chamber of Commerce, as the governing body of the private sector, has also entered the topic of filtering Instagram; Masoud Khansari, the head of the Tehran Chamber, stated that there are five hundred thousand to seven hundred thousand businesses in this field, with approximately one million people directly and around nine million people indirectly involved in it. Farzin Ferdowsi, the head of the Tehran Chamber’s Economy, Innovation, and Digital Transformation Commission, also stated that the limited access to the internet has caused damages of thirty-five trillion tomans in the information technology sector and forty-five trillion tomans in the business sector, resulting in a total of eighty trillion tomans of damage to the country’s economy.

The Tehran Electronic Commerce Association estimates that there are also 400,000 at-risk businesses, which are connected to the livelihood of one million people.

The CEO of the postal company also stated: “The company’s revenue has decreased by one-third, indicating that one-third of postal items and transactions are being done through international internet and foreign platforms.”

The National Virtual Space Center has also estimated the market volume of Instagram in the country to be seventy trillion tomans, of which thirty trillion tomans is for internet service providers, fifteen trillion tomans for service products (advertising, support, etc.), and twenty-five trillion tomans for product sales; in addition, the number of pages related to small businesses is estimated to be around four hundred and fifteen thousand pages.

In addition to domestic sources, foreign sources have also raised concerns about filtering in the country; including “NetBlocks” as a non-governmental organization that monitors cyber security and internet governance, announced that the internet shutdown in Iran causes a loss of one and a half million dollars, equivalent to fifty-two and a half billion tomans, to the country’s economy, which means a daily loss of two hundred billion tomans to online businesses and our country’s economy.

However, there are people who do not believe in these statistics. For example, Shahmirzai, the deputy minister of industry, believes that Instagram only accounts for 3% of the 1,400 billion tomans e-commerce market in the country, or as mentioned in the National Virtual Space Center report, only 4.6% of citizens make purchases through Instagram. Furthermore, this center has introduced ten domestic messaging apps as alternatives to Instagram for people to use; however, there is a lot of talk about these domestic messaging apps and their popularity. In addition, many people, especially those who do not trust selected programs such as Rubika, have been active in other apps (the report also mentions apps such as Digikala, Divar, and Sheypoor), and there are questions about the costs incurred for these apps. For example, while Instagram accounts for only about 3% of the 1,400 billion tomans market, according to officials at the Ministry of