January 05, 2018

How Washington Helps Tehran Control the Internet

Featuring Peter Harrell

Source: Foreign Policy

Journalist Elias Groll

When thousands of Iranians streamed onto the country’s streets in the last week to protest government corruption and the dilapidated economy, authorities in Tehran reverted to a well-known playbook.

On Sunday, the government shut down Telegram, a messaging platform used by more than 40 million Iranians. Instagram and other social media soon followed.

The mullahs’ intentions were clear: to block access to digital platforms used by protesters to spread information about the uprising. But the government’s crackdown found support from a surprising source — the American sanctions regime.

Read the full article here.

Authors

  • Peter Harrell

    Adjunct Senior Fellow, Energy, Economics and Security Program

    Peter Harrell is an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, where he focuses on the intersection of economics and national security. Research interest...