Iran orders foreign social media and instant messaging companies to use servers in the country to store all data related to Iranian citizens
The Iranian Government spends a significant effort on Internet monitoring and control, and its activities often lead to concrete censorship. Last year, the government of Teheran has blocked Telegram and many other social networking companies due to their refusal to help it monitor its citizens.
According to Reuters, Iranian authorities intend to tighten controls on all foreign messaging and social media apps that operate in Iran.
The government is requesting these companies to use servers in the country to store all data related to Iranian citizens.
May 29 – Iran has given foreign messaging apps a year to move data they hold about Iranian users onto servers inside the country, prompting privacy and security concerns on social media,” reported Reuters.
“Foreign messaging companies active in the country are required to transfer all data and activity linked to Iranian citizens into the country in order to ensure their continued activity,” Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace said in new regulations carried by state news agency IRNA on Sunday.
Foreign messaging and social media companies that operate in Iran would need to set up data centers in the country within one year. It is easy to imagine the repercussions, possibly many users will decide to leave their services.
According to Reuters, the decision of Iranian authorities will have a significant impact on the popular messaging app Telegram. Media estimates Telegram has approximately 20 million users in Iran, roughly 25 percent of the total Iranian population.
Even if the companies accept the directive to move the data into Iranian data centers, the Iranian government will not be able to access user data because these services implement end-to-end encryption.
(Security Affairs – Iran, Internet monitoring)
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