Iran has imposed “temporary” restrictions on the extremely popular messaging app Telegram after the messenger refused to block a channel that promotes violence and riot in the Islamic Republic. But is Telegram ready to lose millions of its users?
Citing the US sanctions against Tehran, Facebook has reportedly blocked a sum of $200,000 raised in an online campaign launched by a US-based Iranian doctor to help the quake-hit people of Iran’s Kermanshah province.
Two teenage girls have jumped off a pedestrian bridge in the Iranian city of Isfahan after falling prey to the deadly Blue Whale challenge, a police official said.
While Iran has initiated a criminal case against the founder and CEO of Telegram messaging app, the Russian Federation has also warned that the London-based Messenger is violating Russia’s rules.
Iran’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology says Twitter is blocked in the Islamic Republic for certain national security concerns, not cultural or ethical issues. However, he believes, filtering is not a good strategy.
A top Iranian Judiciary official says websites and other online services could be blocked only through judicial decrees, not based on a certain official’s opinion.
The popular messaging application Telegram has declared that it blocks more than 2,000 Telegram channels affiliated with the ISIS terrorist group each month.
Abdul-Samad Khoramabadi, an Iranian judiciary official, said the state-run institutions that make use of Telegram in their administrative affairs will be indicted for breaking the law.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei called on the Iranian clerics and religious promoters to keep abreast of the latest developments in the digital world and use the cyberspace to counter hostile plots against Islam.
Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi referred to the recent leakage of personal information belonging to 20 million users of an Iranian cell phone operator, and noted that the database had been leaked out over 2 years ago.
