Both services were blocked in Iran in 2022.
Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace approved the lifting of blocks on “certain widely used foreign platforms” according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, which named WhatsApp and Google Play as the first two applications to be unblocked.
“The process of lifting cyberspace restrictions will be multistaged and ongoing, and it won’t be limited to the removal of restrictions on one or a few platforms,”
IRNA said.
Messenger and app store were blocked in Iran in 2022. The new president, Massoud Pezeshkian, promised to relax the Internet bans (other social networks are also blocked in the country).
Since the 2009 protests against the reelection of hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, social media networks including Facebook;*, X and YouTube have been banned or restricted by authorities who’ve blamed them for facilitating protests and fomenting opposition to the state.
Russian messenger Telegram was blocked in Iran in 2018 amid anti-government protests. Authorities accused the platform of helping coordinate protesters and inciting violence. TikTok and Instagram also do not work in Iran.
It’s not clear when Tuesday’s decision will come into effect. IRNA said it was reached by a unanimous vote at a council meeting attended by the head of the judiciary and reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian who’d pledged to relax internet freedoms for Iranians when he was elected in July.
Iranians are actively bypassing blockages of foreign services, Reuters notes.
Facebook and Instagram* are also blocked in Russia (from 2022), but WhatsApp continues to operate for the time being.
On December 23, Artem Sheikin, Deputy Chairman of the Council for the Development of the Digital Economy under the Federation Council, noted that if WhatsApp does not work in accordance with Russian legislation regarding the storage of information about users and their correspondence, as well as the provision of this information at the request of the FSB, the messenger may be banned.
*banned and designated as extremist in Russia
