The spokesman for the Iranian government, Ali Rabiei, has warned his country's authorities about the dangers of blocking the Instagram platform for citizens.
Today, Rabiei tweeted on his official Twitter account commenting on the authorities' efforts in Iran to block Instagram: "Statistics indicate that thousands of pages on the Instagram platform are used by their owners for sales and commercial activities, securing their livelihoods." He noted that if the authorities carry out this action, it would result in unemployment and poverty for approximately one million Iranian citizens. Rabiei explained that around 950,000 Iranian citizens rely on their Instagram pages to provide for their families amid the widespread unemployment in the country.
The Iranian government spokesman also mentioned that surveys show about 400,000 Iranian pages on Instagram have more than 5,000 followers, with 28.8% of these pages belonging to small shops and businesses. He added that according to these statistics, there are at least 115,000 pages on Instagram that provide income for families. Rabiei further clarified that even if each page provides income for two people or families, this means 230,000 households, or about 950,000 Iranians, depend on this social application to combat widespread unemployment.
The Iranian official cautioned his country's authorities that "any decision to disrupt or block Instagram will lead to unemployment and poverty for about one million Iranian citizens."
This came after a complaint from the Iranian Broadcasting Authority against the Minister of Communications, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, with allegations made against him by the public prosecutor, which led to the minister being summoned to the prosecutor's office. He was accused of not following judicial orders to block Instagram and restrict foreign media, as well as failing to implement decisions by the Supreme Cyber Council regarding VPN circumvention programs.
