Iranians have been grappling with the longest and most comprehensive internet shutdown in the history of the Islamic Republic, now entering its second week. The blackout, which began on 8 January amid nationwide protests, has severely restricted access to information and the outside world, while crippling businesses that depend on online advertising.
Authorities have provided no timeline for restoring full internet access, leaving many businesses fearing for their future. A pet shop owner in Tehran, speaking on condition of anonymity, reported a 90% drop in sales since the protests began. 'Before that, I mainly worked on Instagram and Telegram, which I don’t have access to anymore. The government has proposed two domestic alternatives, but our customers are not there — they don’t use it,' he said.
The internet outage compounds existing economic woes. The protests, which erupted on 28 December over the rial’s collapse to over 1.4 million to the dollar, have been met with a brutal crackdown that activists say has killed over 4,000 people. The currency’s decline has driven up inflation, raising the cost of food and essentials, while changes to petrol prices in December further fuelled public anger.
Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA quoted Deputy Minister of Communications and Information Technology Ehsan Chitsaz as saying the internet cut costs Iran between $2.8 million and $4.3 million per day. However, the internet monitoring organisation NetBlocks estimates the daily economic impact at over $37 million, based on indicators from the World Bank and the International Telecommunication Union.
Dara Conduit, a lecturer at the University of Melbourne, noted that Iranian businesses made up to $833 million in annual sales from social media in 2021, and that internet disruptions during the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests cost the economy $1.6 billion. She warned that such blanket economic consequences risked heightening tensions and spurring new anti-regime mobilisation.
Meanwhile, prosecutors have begun targeting businesses allegedly involved in the protests. The judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported that prosecutors in Tehran filed paperwork to seize assets from 60 cafes, with plans to also target athletes and cinema figures. Some cafes in Tehran and Shiraz have been shut down. The violent crackdown, including an estimated 26,000 arrests, has further dampened consumer sentiment, leaving many businesses struggling to survive.
