Iran Takes First Steps Toward Easing Its Broad Social Media Bans
- Allowing WhatsApp and Google Play may placate opponents
- Major social networking sites have been blocked for years
An Iranian holds a phone after activating a virtual private network (VPN) service to access the internet while shopping in a supermarket in Tehran, Iran.
Photographer: SASAN/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images/AFPThis article is for subscribers only.
Iran said it will start easing some of the world’s tightest internet restrictions by lifting its ban on WhatsApp and Google Play — a sign that authorities want to placate domestic opponents as the Islamic Republic faces major economic and foreign-policy challenges.
Earlier on Tuesday, Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace approved the lifting of blocks on “certain widely used foreign platforms” according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, which named WhatsApp and Google Play as the first two applications to be unblocked.