tens of millions still use Instagram in Iran, despite regime restrictions

Meta, the parent company of Instagram, reported Thursday (February 23rd) that tens of millions of people are still using the popular social network in Iran, despite drastic internet restrictions imposed by the country’s government due to the protest movement. The Iranians “continue to find ways to access it via VPNs and other methods”assured Nick Clegg, the head of international affairs of Meta, during a press conference.

He specified that the Iranians used in particular Instagram Lite, a lighter version of the application (it weighs 2 megabytes instead of 30), which makes it possible to have a more stable connection even when the bandwidth is reduced.

Instagram used ‘to show protests’

Iran has restricted access to the internet and social media – including Instagram and WhatsApp, the most popular foreign platforms in the country – since the start of the protests. A wave of protests erupted in mid-September after the death in custody of the young Kurdish girl Mahsa Amini, arrested in Tehran by the morality police for breaking the strict dress code requiring women to wear the veil in public.

“Instagram is widely used by Iranians to show the protests and the authorities’ brutal response”highlighted Nick Clegg. He added that one of the hashtags about the death of Mahsa Amini was the fifth most used on the platform globally during the movement’s first three months.