"Post-war internet in Iran: More censorship and greater risks for users" 27 June 2026

According to users, not only has internet speed declined further, but access to some of the most popular social media platforms, including Instagram and TikTok, remains extremely difficult even through various VPN services...A source familiar with Iran’s communications sector told The Media Line that the government has reopened the internet under conditions imposed by the Supreme National Security Council on the Supreme Council of Cyberspace...According to the source, surveillance and monitoring aimed at updating blocklists have also intensified on an hour-by-hour basis...

However, the Islamic Republic’s numerous security agencies also used the reopening of the internet to hunt down opponents and individuals communicating with journalists abroad or sending images and information to outside media...“At the same time, if you used government-approved applications while your VPN was active, you could be immediately identified, and they could cut off your access. The money you paid for the VPN would effectively be wasted,” she said...

While Iranian officials have acknowledged the economic costs of internet restrictions, communication with human rights and civil society activists inside the country remains severely restricted. Many of them have been subjected to threats and intimidation designed to force them into silence. The internet is not officially shut down, but repression and suffocation have become even more severe than before the January crackdown, according to some sources...Dachek also referred to Iran’s so-called tiered internet system, under which users are divided into several categories with sharply different levels of access. One group, she explained, enjoys unrestricted access to the entire internet. These are generally the same individuals who monitor the internet, track activists, create fake and counterintelligence networks, infiltrate opposition circles, and foster divisions among opponents. They are often affiliated with intelligence institutions...