State criminal police have arrested four suspects from the “United Patriots” group, who are accused of “preparing explosive attacks” as well as the “kidnapping of well-known public figures”.
The ultranationalist organisation has launched an online campaign to support Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine, posting anti-Semitic statements and calling for Ukraine’s leaders to be executed.
Social media is already widely restricted in Iran but a controversial censorship bill could choke public debate even further.
The move is seen by some as part of a growing government effort to tighten control over social media platforms amid political dissent.
The ban, instated until 1100 GMT on YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and Telegram, comes as government tries to stem days of anti-French protests by supporters of now-banned far-right Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan.
One pernicious trend is the rise of ‘green nationalism,’ with far-right nationalists co-opting environmental concern to justify a racist agenda.
Iranian social media has been awash with criticism of new music video by popular underground Iranian singer, “Sasy,” who over the years has become known for contentious lyrics that Iran's conservatives see as tainting the country's moral probity.
In January, the messaging platform informed users it was preparing a new privacy policy, under which it could share limited user data with Facebook and its group firms.
BiP messenger is now the most downloaded app in a majority of Middle Eastern and Asian countries.
WhatsApp warned users this month that it was preparing new privacy policy and terms, and it reserved the right to share some user data with Facebook, sparking global outcries and a rush of new users to competitor private messaging apps.
Signal messaging service saw 17.8 million app downloads on Apple and Google during the week of January 5 and Telegram recorded 25 million new users in 72 hours since January 11, after WhatsApp announced its new privacy policy.
In a quick turn-around, WhatsApp claims that user concerns are based on misinformation while failing to address its past history of sharing data with Facebook
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