Iran’s Other Front: The War Over the Internet

The Iranian government consistently imposes near-total internet blackouts during political crises, weaponizing connectivity to isolate its people and conceal atrocities. In a remarkable act of digital defiance, a global network of volunteers, many from the Iranian diaspora, shares their personal bandwidth to help millions of citizens bypass these restrictions. Using circumvention tools like Psiphon and Snowflake, a significant portion of Iran's population has managed to connect through these volunteer-run bridges to access outside information. Despite this resistance, these tools are useless against a complete shutdown, and the regime simultaneously provides unfiltered internet to a privileged few who amplify the state's message.