Abbas Abdi, Fayyaz Zahed, and Mohammad Mohajeri wrote in the article that since this is an economic crime — and even a threat to national security — its proponents don’t admit it and instead invoke imaginary espionage threats as a pretext.
The article stated that some official estimates indicate the annual turnover from VPN sales is around 20 trillion tomans (approximately $400 million). According to recent studies, unblocking WhatsApp led to an 8–12% drop in VPN use, which caused about 2 trillion tomans in losses for VPN sellers — who are now lobbying to have WhatsApp blocked again.
Responding to the claim by filtering advocates that social networks are espionage tools, the authors added: “Let’s assume that’s true. What exactly does filtering solve? A real spy will buy the best and most expensive VPN and continue their work regardless.”
The article went on to say that filtering has blocked Iranians’ access to many global websites and has essentially contaminated Iran’s internet. Worst of all, it argued, VPNs themselves can become channels for espionage, since many of the major VPNs are made by or under the influence of Israel and Western countries.
The three experts concluded their article by proposing that President Pezeshkian appoint an independent, trusted, and well-known panel of experts to study and report on filtering — and then fully implement their findings.
