In Iran, social media tells the real story of unprecedented protests, police brutality

A protester holds a placard during a demonstration in support of Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini during a protest on October 3, 2022 in Nantes, western France, following her death in Iran. (AFP)
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Updated 06 October 2022
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In Iran, social media tells the real story of unprecedented protests, police brutality

  • Images of police brutality meted out on young Iranian protesters have gone viral on social platforms
  • To counter the spread of information, the regime has cut internet access and clamped down on social media

DUBAI: As anti-government protests in Iran enter their third week, the death toll has continued to rise, with more than 90 people reportedly having lost their lives in the wave of unrest sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.

The 22-year-old’s death at the hands of Iran’s morality police, the Gasht-e Ershad, unleashed an outpouring of anger in almost every province over the strict policing of personal freedoms and the deteriorating standard of living. 

Iran’s large diaspora, spread across Europe and North America, has joined the protests in solidarity, with large demonstrations taking place outside Iranian embassies in Western capitals.

Regime authorities have so far acknowledged the death of 41 people since the unrest began yet have refused to give in to demands to relax the strict dress code imposed on women, including the mandatory headscarf.

Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s ultra-conservative president, has dismissed the anti-regime protests as a “conspiracy” orchestrated by outside enemies and has vowed to “deal decisively with those who oppose the country’s security and tranquility.”




Tehran has attempted to limit the spread of information about nationwide protests with blocks on mobile internet. (ZUMA Wire/Alamy Live News)

In a statement on Sunday, he said: “At a time when the Islamic Republic was overcoming economic problems to become more active in the region and in the world, the enemies came into play with the intention of isolating the country, but they failed in this conspiracy.”

Videos and photographs emerging from Iran on social media tell a different story. Shocking images of police brutality meted out on young protesters have gone viral on social platforms, eliciting international condemnation. 

To counter the spread of images and information, the regime has limited internet access and clamped down on applications like WhatsApp, Twitter and Instagram — claiming the move was necessary in the interests of “national security.”

Tehran is no stranger to this kind of information warfare. The regime has adopted this strategy multiple times since the proliferation of smartphones and social media in order to control the narrative. 

“Shutting down mobile internet services has become a go-to for the Iranian government when dealing with civil unrest,” Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at monitoring firm Kentik said.




Regime authorities have so far acknowledged the death of 41 people since the unrest began. (AFP)

Protesters have been getting around the regime’s internet controls using secure private connections. They have also been sharing footage and details about forthcoming protests with outlets like the London-based broadcaster Iran International.

Iran’s misinformation strategy is as old as the regime itself. In the 1970s, the revolutionaries fighting to topple the US-backed monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, sought to portray their leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, as a freedom fighter.

Khomeini’s close entourage, which included Western-educated advisers, helped him weave a message that appealed to Iranians inside and outside the country, cleverly modifying his words to appeal to Western audiences. 

Their methods proved extremely effective. Western journalists, who at the time relied on the translations given to them by Khomeini’s advisers, willingly broadcast these messages to the world.

Today, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps utilizes a stable of media outlets, including Fars News, Tasnim and others, to set the political agenda and undermine domestic dissent. 




Protests have spread across Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini after the young woman was arrested by morality police. (AFP)

The IRGC also uses these platforms to broadcast propaganda about operations in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East where the regime holds sway with local proxies. 

At the same time, the English-language state broadcaster Press TV is used to appeal to viewers in the West, often featuring American and European commentators who support Tehran’s policies and worldview. 

In March this year, Ruhollah Mo’men Nasab, former head of the Iranian Culture Ministry’s Digital Media Center, lifted the lid on how the regime disrupts the flow of information and discredits activists.

Describing his work as “psychological warfare,” Nasab boasted of developing software and “cyber battalions” to manipulate the narrative on Twitter through fake accounts. 

Arash Azizi, a history and Middle East specialist at New York University, says the regime has been developing its techniques for internet information manipulation for more than a decade. 




Shocking images of police brutality meted out on young protesters have gone viral on social platforms, eliciting international condemnation. (AFP)

“Perhaps the first Twitter revolution was in 2009 as events were unfolding in Iran,” Azizi told Arab News, referring to that year’s mass protests, known as the Green Movement, which exploded in response to the disputed reelection of then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. 

“Nowadays, Iranians use a variety of online tools to get their voice out, which is why the government has tried to shut down the internet entirely,” said Azizi. 

“Iranians abroad and many tech experts, however, are playing an active role in dominating social media with messages about what’s taking place.”

A Twitter account called @1500tasvir, which is run by a group of 10 Iranian activists based inside and outside the country, was first set up in 2019 during the wave of protests sweeping Iran at that time. 

Since the latest outbreak of unrest, the account has posted thousands of videos captured by protesters. One of @1500tasvir’s contributors warned that the regime’s limiting of mobile internet services could undermine the protests.




Thousands took to the streets in violent protests in the city of Tehran. (AFP)

“When you see other people feel the same way, you get braver. You are more enthusiastic to do something about it. When the internet is cut off, you feel alone,” the contributor said.

In response to the regime’s internet shutdowns, Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, pledged Washington would “make sure the Iranian people are not kept isolated and in the dark.” 

On Sept. 23, the US Treasury issued Iran General License D-2, adjusting sanctions rules to allow technology companies to offer the Iranian people more options for secure, outside platforms and services to help counter the regime’s narrative.

Unable to completely snuff out the spread of information online, the regime has instead resorted to its time-tested strategy of detaining social media users whose material gains widespread traction. 

According to state news agency IRNA, Hossein Mahini, a well-known football player, has been arrested “by the order of the judicial authorities for supporting and encouraging riots on his social media page.” 




Nasibe Samsaei, an Iranian woman living in Turkey, cutting off her ponytail during a protest outside the Iranian consulate in Istanbul on September 21, 2022. (AFP)

Another high-profile detainee is Shervin Hajipour, a popular singer who composed a piece using people’s tweets on Amini’s death and the protests. He was reportedly taken into custody last week after his song reached 40 million views on Instagram. 

Although authorities did not immediately confirm Hajipour’s arrest, Mohsen Mansouri, Tehran’s provincial governor, vowed to “take measures against celebrities who contributed to fueling the protests.”

To get around the internet shutdown, some activists have now resorted to distributing flyers to advertise the time and place of planned protests, indicating the regime has failed to quell the unrest.

“They’re yet to have a way of controlling the narrative,” Azizi told Arab News. “The vast majority of Iranians can now see the brutality of this corrupt regime clearly. There have even been letters of solidarity with the protesters from Shiite seminary students in Qom and Mashhad.

“Internationally, thousands have come out in support of the protesters. Even those who usually defend this regime in the Western media are now silent.”

 


Netflix expands language support on TV in accessibility push

Updated 02 April 2025
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Netflix expands language support on TV in accessibility push

  • Users are now able to access all available dubbing and subtitle options for any title, Netflix told Arab News ahead of the launch
  • “Update responds to thousands of language availability requests per month,” Netflix said

LONDON: Netflix is expanding its language support on TV, allowing users to access all available dubbing and subtitle options for any title, the company told Arab News exclusively ahead of the official announcement on Tuesday.

“As more of our members enjoy shows and films from around the world — nearly a third of all viewing on Netflix is for non-English stories — subtitles and dubbing are more important than ever,” the company said in a statement shared with Arab News ahead of the official announcement.

“That’s why starting today, you’ll be able to pick from the full list of available languages for any title when watching Netflix on your TV.”

Previously, users were limited to five to seven languages based on their settings and location. The update — which make dubbing available in 36 languages and subtitles in 33, depending on the title — responds to “thousands of language availability requests per month,” Netflix said, adding that it also benefits users learning a new language by giving them more control over their viewing experience.

“We offer several additional features to support language learning, including the ability to customize subtitles, and the ‘browse by language’ feature on PC computers. These helpful features enhance the accessibility of our shows and movies, while supporting those set on being multilingual,” the statement said.

A 2020 study commissioned by Netflix in partnership with the UN World Commission found that 36 percent of people who watched Spanish-language content were interested in learning the language, compared to 15 percent of non-viewers.

In recent years, Netflix has expanded its non-English content strategy, investing in films and series from various countries and languages. Korean and Spanish content together accounted for 16 percent of global viewership in the first half of 2024, with “Squid Game” and “Money Heist” (“La Casa de Papel”) serving as standout examples.

Netflix is set to release four Arabic-language original series and films this year, following the success of “The Exchange,” “Al-Rawabi School for Girls,” “Honeymoonish,” “From the Ashes” and “Dubai Bling.”


US State Department orders enhanced social media screening for student and visa applicants

Updated 02 April 2025
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US State Department orders enhanced social media screening for student and visa applicants

DUBAI: The US State Department has ordered overseas officials to scour the social media accounts of some student and exchange visitor visa applicants in a bid to stop critics of the US and Israel from entering the country, say media reports.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent out a 1,700-word cable on March 25 titled “Action Request: Enhanced Screening and Social Media Vetting for Visa Applicants.” It described the process foreign service officers abroad must follow when reviewing student and exchange visitor visa applications.

Independent news site The Handbasket, which broke the story, said the cable asked consular officers to refer certain applicants to the Fraud Prevention Unit for a mandatory social media check. The enhanced vetting applies to those suspected of having terrorist ties or sympathies, those who held a student or exchange visa between Oct. 7, 2023, and Aug. 31, 2024, and those who have had a visa terminated since Oct. 7, 2023.

A State Department employee told the media outlet it was “pretty clear the immediate target is anyone who participated in pro-Palestinian protests — one of the triggers for social media screening is having been in the US on one of these visas between Oct. 7 and the end of last August.”

The cable states that, during the screening, officers “MUST ADDRESS any derogatory information indicating that a visa applicant may be subject to the terrorism-related ineligibility grounds of the Immigration and Nationality Act,” which includes “advocating for, sympathizing with, or persuading others to endorse or espouse terrorist activities or support a DESIGNATED FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.”

It also contains some broader guidance. One section suggests a student visa applicant does not necessarily need to express explicit support for terrorist activity in order to be denied as long as they demonstrate “a degree of public approval or public advocacy for terrorist activity or a terrorist organization.” 

This could be evident in “conduct that bears a hostile attitude toward US citizens or US culture” or in “advocacy or sympathy for foreign terrorist organizations.”

“All of these matters may open lines of inquiry regarding the applicant’s credibility and purpose of travel,” the cable states.

Some directives are somewhat vague — perhaps intentionally, so they can be applied in whichever way is required, the State Department employee told The Handbasket.

The cable also cites a quote from Rubio’s interview with CBS on March 16: “We don’t want people in our country that are going to be committing crimes and undermining our national security or the public safety. It’s that simple. Especially people that are here as guests. That is what a visa is ...  It is a visitor into our country. And if you violate the terms of your visitation, you are going to leave.”

Since taking up his role in January, Rubio has revoked at least 300 visas awarded to students, visitors and others. Last Thursday, he told the media he had signed letters on a daily basis. He refused to comment on how the cases came before him, but said he reviewed each one personally.

“If they’re taking activities that are counter to our national interest, to our foreign policy, we’ll revoke the visa,” he said.

Rubio added that a visa holder charged with a crime while in the US should automatically lose their permission to be in the US. Permanent residents, or green card holders, are not exempt from additional scrutiny and could also lose their status.

Last month, Rubio signed off on revoking the PR status of Syrian-born Mahmoud Khalil and Yunseo Chung, of South Korea, both of whom were involved in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University.

Khalil, who is married to a US citizen, was seized from his home by immigration agents and taken to a detention center in Louisiana. Chung has been in the US since the age of seven.


Trump says confident of TikTok deal before deadline

Updated 31 March 2025
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Trump says confident of TikTok deal before deadline

  • Chinese owner ByteDance to sell the popular short video app by April 5 or see it banned in the US
  • US in talks with four groups interested in acquiring the platform, Trump said

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Sunday he was confident of reaching a deal on TikTok ahead of the April 5 deadline for its Chinese owner ByteDance to sell the popular short video app or see it banned in the United States.
“We have a lot of potential buyers. There’s tremendous interest in TikTok,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One.
“We have a lot of people that want to buy TikTok. We’re dealing with China also on it, because they may have something to do with it,” he said, adding “I’d like to see TikTok remain alive.”
China on Thursday had rebuffed a suggestion from Trump that he might offer to reduce tariffs to get Beijing’s approval for the sale of TikTok to a non-Chinese firm.
Trump said this month the United States was in talks with four groups interested in acquiring the platform, which has 170 million American users.
A US law has ordered TikTok to divest from ByteDance or be banned in the United States, enacted over concerns that Beijing could exploit the app to spy on Americans or covertly influence US public opinion.
The law took effect on January 19, a day before Trump’s inauguration, but he quickly announced a delay that has allowed it to continue to operate.
That delay is set to expire on April 5.
“There’ll be a deal with TikTok, I’m pretty certain,” Trump said when asked if he would extend the deadline if there was no deal.
Trump attempted to ban TikTok in the United States because of national security concerns during his first stint in the White House but has warmed up to it.
“Selfishly speaking, I won the young vote by 36 points. Republicans generally don’t do very well with the young crowd, and I think a lot of it could have been TikTok,” he said.


Turkiye confirms Swedish journalist arrested amid protests

Updated 30 March 2025
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Turkiye confirms Swedish journalist arrested amid protests

  • The jailing of Medin came just hours after the authorities released the last of 11 journalists arrested in dawn raids on Monday for covering the protests

Istanbul: A Swedish journalist who was detained on his arrival in Turkiye to cover protests over the jailing of Istanbul’s mayor has been arrested on terror-related charges and for “insulting the president,” the Turkish presidency said Sunday.
Joakim Medin, who works for the Dagens ETC newspaper, “has been arrested on charges of ‘membership in an armed terrorist organization’ and ‘insulting the president’,” the presidency said.
Medin was detained on Thursday when his plane landed in Turkiye, and sent to prison the next day.
In a bulletin published by its “Disinformation Combat Center,” the presidency said Medin was “known for anti-Turkiye news and his closeness to the terrorist organization PKK,” the banned Kurdish militant group.
“This arrest decision has no connection whatsoever to journalistic activities,” it added.
The jailing of Medin came just hours after the authorities released the last of 11 journalists arrested in dawn raids on Monday for covering the protests, among them AFP photographer Yasin Akgul.
Turkish authorities have also deported BBC journalist Mark Lowen, who had been covering the protests, after holding him for 17 hours on Wednesday, saying he posed “a threat to public order,” the broadcaster said.
Turkiye’s communications directorate said Lowen had been deported “due to a lack of accreditation.”
Turkish prosecutors had already opened an investigation into Medin in 2023 over a demonstration he joined in Stockholm in which a puppet of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was hung from its feet, according to the presidency’s statement Sunday.
It said the Swedish journalist was among 15 suspects believed to have carried out, organized or publicized the demonstration.
The protest infuriated Turkish authorities, who alleged it was orchestrated by PKK members and summoned Sweden’s ambassador to Ankara.


Academy apologizes after stars say it ‘failed to defend’ Palestinian filmmaker

Updated 29 March 2025
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Academy apologizes after stars say it ‘failed to defend’ Palestinian filmmaker

  • Hamdan Ballal was assaulted this week by settlers and detained at gunpoint by soldiers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank
  • “No Other Land” chronicles the forced displacement of Palestinians by Israeli troops and settlers in Masafer Yatta in the West Bank

LOS ANGELES: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences apologized Friday for failing to defend an Oscar-winning Palestinian filmmaker who said he was attacked by Israeli settlers.
The group, which hosts and awards the Oscars each year, wrote to members after movie stars including Joaquin Phoenix, Penelope Cruz and Richard Gere had slammed its initially muted response to the incident.
The Academy “condemns violence of this kind anywhere in the world” and its leaders “abhor the suppression of free speech under any circumstances,” said the letter, seen by AFP.
Hamdan Ballal co-directed “No Other Land,” which won best documentary at this year’s Academy Awards.
This week, he said he had been assaulted by settlers and detained at gunpoint by soldiers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Unlike multiple other prominent filmmaker groups, the US-based Academy initially did not issue a statement.
On Wednesday, it sent a letter to members that condemned “harming or suppressing artists for their work or their viewpoints,” without naming Ballal.
By Friday morning, more than 600 Academy members had signed their own statement in response.
“It is indefensible for an organization to recognize a film with an award in the first week of March, and then fail to defend its filmmakers just a few weeks later,” the members said.
“We stand in condemnation of the brutal assault and unlawful detention of Oscar-winning Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal by settlers and Israeli forces in the West Bank,” they wrote.
The Academy leadership’s response “fell far short of the sentiments this moment calls for,” said the members.
The Los Angeles-based group’s board convened an extraordinary meeting Friday to confront the deepening crisis, according to trade outlet Deadline.
Later Friday, it issued an apology to Ballal “and all artists who felt unsupported by our previous statement.”
“We regret that we failed to directly acknowledge Mr. Ballal and the film by name,” it wrote.
“No Other Land” chronicles the forced displacement of Palestinians by Israeli troops and settlers in Masafer Yatta — an area Israel declared a restricted military zone in the 1980s.
Despite winning the coveted Oscar, the film has struggled to find a major US distributor.
Following Monday’s incident, Ballal told AFP the “brutality” of the attack “made me feel it was because I won the Oscar.”
During his detention at an Israeli military center, Ballal said he noticed soldiers mentioning his name alongside the word “Oscar” during shift changes.
He was released Tuesday, after being detained the previous day for allegedly “hurling rocks.”
Yuval Abraham, who also co-directed and appears in the documentary, has spoken out against the Academy’s response.
“After our criticism, the academy’s leaders sent out this email to members explaining their silence on Hamdan’s assault: they need to respect ‘unique viewpoints’,” he wrote on X, sharing a screenshot of the Academy’s letter.