Government official says the ban on messaging apps is slowing flood relief in Iran · Global Voices
Center for Human Rights in Iran

Social media blocks prove detrimental to flood relief. Graphic by the Center for Human Rights in Iran.
State censorship of social media apps has reduced the efficiency of relief operations in regions of Iran hit with heavy flooding, according to an official at a state agency that promotes public service information.
“If filtering was not an obstacle, the rescue operations would have been more effective,” tweeted Alireza Moezi, the secretary of the government’s Information Council, on March 24. “Let’s learn from experiences.”
Moezi also stated that some people have been using the apps over virtual private networks (VPNs), and that these connections have helped to expedite relief efforts. VPNs allow users to bypass censorship infrastructure.
“Conventional media have fallen behind because they are not able to share information easier and quicker than social media,” he said.
“Messaging apps and social media have played an outstanding role as rescue information carriers, especially Telegram and Twitter,” he added. Both Twitter and Telegram are blocked in Iran.
On April 2, Morteza Khaledi, the spokesman for Iran’s Emergency Medical Services Organization, reported that 57 people had died as a result of flash flooding which began on March 19 and had affected 23 of the country’s 31 provinces. The actual number of casualties could be much higher.
The hardest-hit areas have been in southern and central Iran, including Fars, Isfahan and Yazd provinces. The governor-general of Khuzestan Province declared a state of emergency after flooding swallowed buildings and bridges in his region on March 31.
Popular social media networks like Facebook and Twitter offer free, built-in tools that allow users to inform the public about natural disasters, request help, or mark themselves as “safe.” But both are blocked in Iran.
Unable to effectively censor specific posts or accounts on the apps, the Iranian government has blocked access to many social media services in the country. The widely used Telegram messaging app was the last to be censored. According to the company, it had 40 million monthly users in Iran before it was filtered in May 2018.
As news and images of the flooding began making waves on these social media apps, which are filtered in Iran, some people in Iran began asking why they are still not allowed to access them.
Iranian user Nazanin Matinnia tweeted at the Minister of Information and Communications Technology on April 1:
چرا الان که می‌دونین مردم به اطلاع‌رسانی احتیاج دارن، اکثرا از تلگرام استفاده می‌کنن و رسانه ملی هم هیچوقت تو کمک با شما همراه نبوده و کاری از دستش برنمیاد، فیلتر تلگرام رو برنمی‌دارین؟! یعنی الان و تو این شرایط هم مردم باید هزینه اضافه بدن؟! #سیل @azarijahromi
— nazaninmatinnia (@nazaninmatinnia) April 1, 2019
You know people need to share information so why aren’t you lifting the filter on Telegram?! You know most people use Telegram and the national media organization Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting has never been cooperative when you needed help and it’s incapable of doing anything. Are you saying that the people should suffer even under these circumstances? #floods @azarijahromi
Some officials meanwhile called for the bans to be lifted. Member of Parliament Mahmoud Sadeghi tweeted:
خدا قوت!
کاش دادستانی محترم نیز فعلا ولو موقت فیلتر تلگرام را بردارند تا مردم بتوانند از این امکان برای برقراری ارتباط استفاده کنند. https://t.co/hi4vK31wCf
— محمود صادقی (@mah_sadeghi) April 1, 2019
I wish that the honorable Prosecutor [General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri] would at least temporarily lift the filter on Telegram so that the people could use it as a means of communication
Journalists also struggled to get information to the public, in some cases asking colleagues to post information for them because various VPN tools, which are used to bypass state filters, had suddenly become unusable during the flooding.
On Twitter, one user said they had been sent photos by a reporter in one of the affected areas:
وحید باسره (@vahidbasereh) از روزنامه‌نگاران محلی #ایلام این تصاویر رو برام واتساپ کرده و نوشته «فیلترشکنم کار نمی‌کنه، لطفا اطلاع بدید: رانش زمین و ریزش کوه در بخشی از ورودی شهر به علت بارش‌های بی وقفه».
پ.ن: ایلام علاوه بر #سیل و بارندگی، امروز یه #زلزله نسبتا شدید هم داشته pic.twitter.com/2yAJSMILKg
— آرمین سلیمانی/ (@ArminSoleimany) April 1, 2019
Vahid Basereh, one of the local reporters in [the city of] Ilam, sent me these photos via WhatsApp and wrote: ‘My VPN does not work. Please share this information: Because of relentless rains there are landslides and falling rocks from the mountains at the entrance to the city.
Commenting on that tweet, BBC Persian reporter Kayvan Hossein wrote:
توییتی با دو بخش مهم که هر دو دلهره‌آورند:
یکی اینکه رانش زمین و ریزش کوه وضعیتی خطرناک درست کرده.
و دیگر اینکه «فیلترشکنم کار نمی‌کنه». سانسور در چنین مواقعی که اطلاع‌رسانی حیاتی است، به راحتی می‌تواند به یک پدیده مرگبار تبدیل شود. https://t.co/QKcSCmYqRt
— Kayvan Hosseini (@Kayvan_Hosseini) April 1, 2019
This tweet has two important aspects both of which are terrifying: One about the dangerous situation caused by landslides and falling mountain rocks and the other about his VPN not working. In situations where sharing information is vital, censorship can turn into a deadly phenomenon.
As Iranians struggled to access information about the floods, Iranian officials including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani posted freely on Twitter and Telegram, which are blocked off to the Iranian public.
Many Iranian users directed their tweets at Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi.
Parvin Mohammadi, who describes herself as a child psychologist, tweeted:
روستاهای #لرستان با سیل دست و پنجه نرم می کنند. ان وقت تنها راه کمک خواهی انها از بین رفته. هیچ خبری از روستاها نیست. آنتن دهی قطع شده. پیام رسان ها با فیلتر کار میکنن که با این وضع آنتن دهی رسما خبردهی رو غیر ممکن کرده.
وزیر جوان دقیقا وسط سیل داری چه کار میکنی؟@azarijahromi
— پروین محمدی (@Parvinmhdi) April 1, 2019
The villages in Lorestan Province are grappling with floods and yet they have lost the only means they have to seek help. There’s no news from these villages. There’s no internet connection. Messaging apps work with VPNs but the connections are so weak that it’s almost impossible to share information. In the midst of this flood, what are you doing young minister@azarijahromi?
Jalal Rouhani, who identifies herself as an information technology expert, tweeted:
سازمان #نقشه برداری کشور #سیل_لرستان #سیل_خوزستان رو در قالب نقشه‌های با دقت بالا منتشر کرده. شاید برای دفعات بعدی این خروجی‌ها رو تو #بلد و @NeshanMaps و #KML بشه منتشر کنند برای بهره‌برداری بهتر.
و ایکاش #توییتر هم فیلتر نبود.
خاک تو سر سه کَس. فیلترچی و تحریم‌چی و تندروچی. pic.twitter.com/37S4hF97QJ
— Jalal Rohani (@jranil) April 1, 2019
I wish Twitter was not filtered. Damn all three of them: those who imposed the filters, those who imposed the sanctions and extremists.
Journalist Parastoo Beiranvand tweeted:
در شرایط بحرانی سیل که ارتباط جاده ای قطع میشود و نمیتوان خبری از مردم گرفت نیاز به ارتباط مخابراتی و نبود فیلتر برای اعلام گزارش ضروریه.
وزیر جوان @azarijahromi آیا نباید به این قضیه فکر کرد و حداقل به صورت موقت فیلترینگ را برداشت؟
— Parastoo Beiranvand (@Parastooo_B) April 1, 2019
In the current crisis conditions, when roads are being cut off and we can’t get information from the people, it’s necessary to allow communications without filters. Shouldn’t you think about this young minister @azarijahromi and at least temporarily remove the filters?
Entrepreneur Jalal Ofteadeh tweeted:
کاش حداقل #توییتر و #تلگرام رو برای اطلاع‌رسانی بحران باز می‌کردن بعد از اینکه آب‌ها از آسیاب افتاد دوباره محبت می‌کردن فیلتر کنند.
البته شاید از نظرشون هر نوع اطلاع‌رسانی خوب نیست :) #سیل
— Javad Oftadeh (@javadOftadeh) March 26, 2019
I wish at least they would open access to Twitter and Telegram to be able to share information about the crisis and when the water recedes they can filter it again. Of course, maybe they think sharing information is not good under any circumstances.
Reporter Hossein Dehbashi tweeted:
اکانت رهبری درتوئیتر به ریاست ستادکل نیروهای مسلح و اکانت رئیس ق.ق درتوئیتر به ریاست سازمان بازرسی کل کشور برای پیگیری سیل گلستان دستورات عاجل و قاطع می‌دهند. درحالیکه توئیتر فیلتر است و بی‌فیلترشکن دور از دسترس. خب! امثال این موارد را بعدها و برای تاریخ به سختی می‌شود توضیح داد!
— حسین دهباشى ?? (@majazestan) March 23, 2019
The Twitter accounts belonging to the supreme leader, the head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, the judiciary chief and the head of the National Auditing Organization are issuing urgent and decisive orders concerning the handling of floods in Golestan Province. This is at a time when Twitter is filtered and you cannot access it without a VPN. This will be hard to explain for history's sake.
Activist Sina Qelich wrote:
ستاد مدیریت بحران می‌تواند درخواست کند که در این شرایط #تلگرام رفع فیلتر شود.
کانال اصلی اطلاع‌رسانی همین تلگرام فیلترشده است.
روا نیست که مردم برای نجات جانشان با سد فیلتر مواجه شوند.#سيل
— سینا قلیچ (@SinaQelich) March 26, 2019
Under these circumstances, the Crisis Management Organization can make a request to lift the filter on Telegram. Despite the filter, Telegram has been the main source of information. It’s not right to block people who are trying to save their lives.
Last week, Iranian authorities warned citizens that they could be prosecuted for posting images or videos online about the flooding under the charge of “disturbing public opinion.”