Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei gave his Norwuz speech last weekend where he talked about the internet. Surprisingly he said that Iranian's should use cyberspace...followed by a warning not to be influenced by the enemy. Presumably this must mean America and the West.
And why did he speak of this? Khamenei appears scared about how the internet could effect this years elections in the Iran. He warns people not to fall victim to the enemies intentions to influence the election. This is ironic as it comes only days after America published a report saying that Iran interfered in their elections in November! So the Islamic Republic is allowed to interfere with others elections but nobody must interfere with theirs?!
No state should try and influence another's election, however Khamenei should be scared not just for this reason. It is not only fake information that can influence an election, but also access to unfiltered influence. Supreme Leader...not everything that criticizes the Islamic Republic is fake!
Iran's Minister of Communications, Mr Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, disagrees with the Supreme Leader. What a breath of fresh air! It is reported that he doesn't believe in filtering the internet, as this causes a bigger gap between generations. Young people are much more cyber aware than their parents and grandparents as they have to be imaginative to get around the cyber censorship in Iran, either using Tor or a VPN.
If this gap continues to widen then I wonder what will happen in the next ten years? Will a cyber revolution occur and overthrow the Islamic Republic? I do not know, but I hope than in years to come more and more people in Iran will have uncensored access to the internet. Cyberspace is not something you can control with harsh words and politics.
And finally, Mr Khamenei, if you distrust the internet so much, why do you have Twitter when it is banned in the Islamic Republic?
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