The internet in Iran among the worst worldwide for connectivity

The internet in Iran is among the worst worldwide and the cause might be the government's censorship boost.

Blocked websites, daily disruptions, slower speeds, and filtering saturation of IP addresses—that's the grim scenario depicted by the Tehran Electronic Commerce Association (TECA).

In a report by the TECA (source in Farsi), experts blame the President and Iranian officials' lack of knowledge for this "self-inflicted" situation. Iran is leading the way for internet disruptions around the world forcing citizens to turn en masse to VPN services and other circumventing tools to keep accessing crucial information online.

Leader in internet restrictions

Commenting on the findings, Information Security Analyst at Citizen Lab Azam Jangravi told me: "Iran has one of the most restrictive internet environments in the world, blocking access to many popular websites and social media platforms, as well as surveilling and filtering online content."

As the investigation carried on by the Tehran Electronic Commerce Association—an independent body that monitors and evaluates the internet situation in Iran—reveals, nearly half of all websites in Iran experienced some form of interruptions in the past nine months.

Experts also recorded daily internet outages, especially "occurring between 5pm and 11pm." These appear to be a by-product of new filtering equipment within the domestic network, which causes functional disruptions and processor saturation.

All this places Iran among the worst 50 countries for internet quality, alongside some of the poorest and underdeveloped nations. Yet, in Iran's case, the government is to blame, experts said, as "these conditions are self-inflicted."

The report alleges that, due to a lack of technical understanding, Iranian officials might impose indiscriminate censorship on the IP level without providing clear reasons for it.

Not just website blocking and bandwidth throttling, Iran's authorities have been increasingly busy switching off the plug on the internet as well, especially during times of political turmoil like the protest which occurred in 2019 and 2022. 

In the first half of 2023, Iran came out as the biggest perpetrator of internet shutdowns according to data collected by VPN provider Surfshark. Weekly internet disruptions have also been enforced during Friday prayers in the Zahedan region since the end of 2022.

According to Jangravi, this track record demonstrates "the government’s willingness to cut off the internet entirely in times of crisis, leaving the citizens in the dark and vulnerable".