Iran wants to block social photo site Instagram

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An Iranian court has ruled that Instagram should no longer be accessible in Iran. The reason for the blockade, according to the court, are ‘privacy objections’. Iran blocks many popular Western websites to keep out ‘harmful influences’.

That is what the AP news agency says. According to the court, Iranian citizens have complained about privacy violations on Instagram, prompting the telecommunications ministry to impose a blockade. However, it is not clear exactly how the privacy of citizens is being violated or by whom the lawsuit was brought.

Instagram appears to be still accessible to Iranian citizens at the time of writing, but it is unclear when the blockade will take effect. The photo site is one of the few popular social media that is still accessible in Iran: blockades have already been put in place against Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and YouTube. Iran is thus trying to keep ‘harmful western influences’ at bay.

Despite systematically blocking social media, Iranian President Rouhani recently spoke positively about the internet. He argued that Iran should ’embrace’ the internet. In addition, several Iranian government officials have accounts on the blocked social networking sites. Incidentally, many Iranian citizens bypass the blockades using proxy servers.

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