Tehran, Jan 26, (dpa/GNA) – Data from the IT company Cloudflare on Monday, showed that web traffic in Iran remained at roughly 30% of normal levels, compared to the time before an internet blockade began more than two weeks ago.
More and more people in the country are also managing to reconnect using virtual private networks (VPNs), which are alternative digital “tunnels” to the internet.
Some apps and websites have been unblocked, as reported by residents of major Iranian cities.
The organization Netblocks, which specializes in internet shutdowns, wrote on Monday on X that that the blackout had been ongoing for 18 days, and was “obscuring the extent of a deadly crackdown on civilians.”
Iran’s security forces imposed the blockade on the evening of January 8, as large crowds protested against the economic crisis and the Islamic system of government in the country. The authorities responded with a brutal crackdown over two nights.
According to Time magazine, citing two unnamed senior officials from the Iranian Health Ministry, up to 30,000 people may have been killed.
The news agency of Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA) on Sunday, put the deaths at nearly 6,000.
An analysis by the Critical Threats Project (CTP), indicates that the internet ban has sparked debate within the country’s leadership.
Some fear that restoring access could trigger new protests, while others warn that the economic damage caused by the blackout itself could fuel unrest.
Iranian Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Gholamhossein Shafei recently warned of unforeseeable consequences for the economy, in comments to the online portal Asre-Eghtesad.
Shafei said more than 400,000 companies risked having to close down due to the internet shutdown. If it continues, the livelihood of around 9 million employees is at stake, he said.
GNA