Since the US-Israeli war against Iran started at the end of February, almost all of Iran's 92 million people have been living under a digital blackout. But not everyone is in the same boat: an opaque system allows certain people to remain connected, illustrating the emergence of a two-speed Internet access system, at the service of power.

Published on: 04/29/2026 - 6:23 p.m. Modified on: 04/29/2026 - 6:26 p.m.

On Instagram, she poses in the streets of Tehran, Iranian flag in one hand, portrait of the Supreme Guide in the other. His videos follow one another, embellished with patriotic hashtags and slogans glorifying the regime. Nothing in the online activity of this young influencer followed by more than 335,000 people suggests that Iran has been plunged for weeks into one of the longest Internet shutdowns in history.

While millions of Iranians have no longer been able to access the Web since February 28, certain accounts, like his, continue to publish without hindrance. A situation which illustrates a gradual shift: in Iran, access to the Internet now seems reserved for a hand-picked minority.

Since the start of the joint strikes by the United States and Israel, the cybersecurity monitoring NGO NetBlocks has recorded 61 days of outage, unheard of on the scale of an entire country. International connectivity “remains weak, at around 2% of usual levels”.

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The digital sesame

But this blackout is not uniform, confirms the NGO. “The regime is trying to establish multi-speed access for the benefit of privileged groups.” A handful of actors – political leaders, figures close to power, certain entrepreneurs or content creators – would be given a pass. Digital rights activists speak of a "whitelist", an unofficial but widely used term for this opaque system of selection.

In fact, this “white list” is based on a discreet mechanism: individual access authorization, granted after security validation. The users concerned see their telephone number "added to the 'white list' which allows access to the Internet without any restriction", explains Amir Rashidi, director of cybersecurity and digital rights for the NGO Miaan, interviewed by Radio France. A sort of digital sesame, reserved for those deemed reliable by those in power.

This device is part of a broader evolution of Iranian doctrine in terms of network control. “The Internet is no longer considered a right. It is now redefined as a ‘strategic infrastructure’ whose access can be adjusted according to national security priorities,” underlines Amir Rashidi, quoted this time by the New York Times. “Once Internet access moves from a rights-based framework to a security governance framework, it no longer belongs to everyone equally.”

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In this context, the authorities are increasingly openly supporting the implementation of a two-speed Internet. On April 28, the spokesperson for the Iranian government, Fatemeh Mohajerani, confirmed the existence of a device called "Internet Pro", launched at the beginning of the month and intended for certain professional categories, such as teachers, lawyers, doctors, or entrepreneurs. “The Supreme National Security Council approved this device in order to preserve economic activities,” she declared.

Bypass restrictions

In a few clicks, on Instagram, accounts of young Iranians appear who publish photos and videos every day, often to the glory of the Islamic Republic. Like Herofam, this other influencer, followed by more than 200,000 subscribers, whose activity never seems to have been interrupted despite the cuts.

If it is impossible to say with certainty that these profiles appear on a “white list”, as the Radio France investigation highlights, several indicators – regularity of publications, geolocation in Iran, continuous access to blocked platforms – suggest that they benefit from privileged access.

For the rest of the population, the blockage is almost total. Only the national intranet – a closed network controlled by the authorities – remains accessible to them and allows them to use certain local services, such as banking applications or distance learning platforms.

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Some Iranians are trying to circumvent these restrictions. Virtual private networks (VPNs, masking addresses), although massively blocked, are circulating on the black market at exorbitant prices. According to testimonies collected by the German media Deutsche Welle, a gigabyte of filtered and unstable connection can cost up to 10 million rials, or around 11 euros – a prohibitive cost in a country where the monthly minimum wage is around 166 million rials (108 euros).

Others are turning to even riskier solutions, such as satellite connections. Starlink kits, banned in Iran, are sold clandestinely at prices that can exceed 4,000 euros, compared to less than 900 euros previously. Their use exposes their holders to accusations of espionage.

“An era of digital apartheid”

Result: a deep divide, which cuts across lines of power and wealth. The country has entered “an era of digital apartheid,” an Iranian resident told Deutsche Welle. “If you are a university professor, a pro-government journalist or a member of an online propaganda project, you have access to the Internet,” he says. "If you're rich, you buy an expensive VPN. But if you're an average citizen, you get the national intranet and omnipresent censorship."

For a long time, Iranian censorship was mainly based on content filtering – blocking sites, banning platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram or X, monitoring keywords. But in recent years, the strategy has evolved.

Read alsoInternet shutdown in Iran: messages of defiance published before the return to silence

Some observers believe that the new situation foreshadows a sustainable model. “Iran wants to permanently cut off all public access to the Internet and only allow selective access to certain users,” warns Filterwatch in a report published in April. “What is emerging in Iran is not a simple intensification of censorship, but the emergence of a new era of digital repression,” she adds.

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Despite the blackout imposed on its population, the regime's communications machine is running at full speed towards the outside world, multiplying viral content, sometimes generated by artificial intelligence. In its communications war against the United States and Israel, official Iranian accounts – including those of some of its embassies – are, for example, broadcasting videos featuring Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu being derided, reduced to Lego figurines.

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