Rouhani warns Iran's Telegram Messenger app ban may “disrupt public mood”

Rouhani warns Iran's Telegram Messenger app ban may “disrupt public mood”
Though Telegram Messenger oils the wheels of a huge amount of business in Iran, hardliners are wary of the role it can play in the organisation of demonstrations.
By bne IntelliNews April 4, 2018

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has warned against a “disruption of the public mood” and “worsening unemployment” in his first comments on the impending ban to be applied to the hugely popular messaging application Telegram Messenger, Asharq Al-Awsat reported on April 4.

Iran’s government has mixed feelings about the Dubai-based Telegram Messenger encrypted service, co-founded by self-exiled Russian Pavel Durov and his elder brother Nikolai, and used by around half of Iran's population of 80 million. On the one hand, the app is used by many businesses to sell products and communicate with customers, while on the other hand Telegram's development of a cryptocurrency, the Gram, that theoretically could become a rival to the Iranian rial (IRR), has caused much disquiet among officials.

The pragmatist and centrist Rouhani called for moves to simply break monopolies held by social networking sites rather than the introduction of internet restrictions. But such an approach might not deal with the anxieties of the hardliners who fear Telegram can be used to covertly organise demonstrations. During the outbreak of nationwide street unrest in Iran around the turn of the year the authorities moved to temporarily close down the availability of Telegram and there is speculation that they have been “throttling” it, limiting its speed and provision, ever since. After the demonstrations died out, Rouhani was among those pressing for the block on Telegram to be removed.

“The goal of creating and enhancing Iranian software and messaging apps should not be blocking access [to other applications], [the objective] should be the elimination of monopolies,” Rouhani said, dealing with some of the market implications of the upcoming move.

Telegram is thought to account for some 90% of Iran's digital communications.

Government split over ban
Aleaddin Boroujerdi, chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran, announced on April 1 the coming ban during a radio interview. He reportedly said the rumours of an upcoming prohibition were true and that the application would be blocked in just over three weeks’ time.

Boroujerdi said that the decision to block the Telegram app was “made at the highest levels of government” and suggested that a domestically developed software called Soroush would be its replacement.

He added that he hoped people would move to the Iranian-developed messaging service when the block was put in place. However, several Iranians have claimed on social media that the app was developed by the Iranian intelligence services and is not trustworthy.

The loss of Telegram, which boasts some opposition diaspora channels, would be a big blow to those who have already met disappointment in efforts to push the Rouhani administration to reopen platforms including Twitter, blocked since they featured in the organisation of protests in 2009.

Despite the discord among top Islamic Republic officials, Telegram has lately been concentrated on building up its equity with its initial coin offering (ICO). The company has now raised $1.7bn from the ICO with which it plans to develop the TON blockchain technology to build up its digital currency, the Gram.

The announcement about the banning of Telegram came following February 1 comments from the head of Iran’s Passive Defence Organisation, Brigadier General Gholamreza Jalali, who said the decision by Telegram to push ahead with an ICO for its cryptocurrency was a significant challenge for the Iranian government.

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