Iran International, Iran Moves To Provide ‘Unrestricted Internet’ For ‘Digital Freelancers’ "The new measure, dubbed “Regulations to support freelancers active in the country's digital economy," was ratified by the government’s digital economy taskforce on Saturday in 10 articles, ...

Sky News, Iran calls for the US to be banned from World Cup after social media flag row "The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) has now deleted the graphic which was posted across its official Twitter, Instagram ...

Arab News, Online petition urges Elon Musk to ban Ali Khamenei from Twitter "Twitter users have launched an online petition calling on Elon Musk, who recently bought the platform, to ban Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from Twitter."

I'm including this here as representative of the ongoing social media campaign (a couple of contrasting items):

Brave Iranian Girls and Boys. What a campaign. 👏👏👏#IranRevolution2022

A group of Tweeters from across the world have launched a campaign to call on Twitter CEO @elonmusk to remove the accounts of Iran's Leader Ali Khamenei over his use of the platform for hatemongering as well as systematic crackdown ...

Starlink in Iran:

Videos shared by @CarnegieEndow's @ksadjadpour show @SpaceXStarlink ...

BBC World Service, The Fifth Floor, Iran Protests: the ripple effect - check out the first segment of this programme for an interesting discussion on the protests: "The protests in Iran are now the longest and most widespread in the 43 years of the Islamic Republic. What began as a ...

AFP/macaubusiness.com, Iran to criminalise sale of VPNs: minister "Iran is planning to criminalise the sale of virtual private networks (VPNs) used to skirt internet restrictions, a minister said on Wednesday, amid protests sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death."

Detailed, interesting article: Ehsan Mehrabi, IranWire, Regime Hardliners Blame Pandemic and Porn Hub for the Protests "Blaming Western countries and opposition groups for protests in Iran is standard practice for the Islamic ...

Not a new phenomenon, but interesting to see this spike of VPN use in Iran: Ryan Browne, CNBC, VPN use skyrockets in Iran as citizens navigate internet censorship under Tehran’s crackdown "On Sept. 22, a day after WhatsApp ...

Mahsa Amini, NY Times, Opinion | Big Tech Should Support ...

Arab News, 3 Iranian citizens charged in broad hacking campaign in US, 15 Sep 2022 "The Justice Department said Wednesday that three Iranian citizens have been charged in the United States with ransomware attacks that targeted power companies, local governments and small businesses ...

Article19, Iran: Cyberspace authorities ‘silently’ usher in draconian internet bill "ARTICLE 19 condemns the absolute lack of due process in the implementation of the draconian Internet User Protection Bill, which is being railroaded into partial implementation ...

RFE/RL Two Iranian Women Sentenced To Death For LGBT Activism, 5 Sep 2022 Social media elements to this story: "The state IRNA news agency reported the sentences of Zahra Hamadani and Elham Chubdar on September 5, a day after the Hengaw human rights ...

Middle East Eye, Iranian press review: Video sparks renewed debate over hijab law "The discussion over the hijab and women's outfits reignited again in Iran after a video went viral on social media, showing a quarrel between two women over ...

Newswires, (Video) Iran Is Moving Towards a Complete Internet Shutdown, One Bit at a Time, 18 July 2022 "Reports from Iran show that Google and Bing’s safe search mode, usually set for children to filter content, ...

Reclaim The Net, Iran’s Supreme Leader suggests those who spread “rumors” or “false claims” online should be prosecuted, 30 June 2022 "Iran’s Minister for Information and Communications Technology has dismissed rumors that the government ...

RSF, Iran censor protest coverage and is helped by company active in Europe, 29 June 2022 "In order to force its citizens to fall back on this national network, the government has repeatedly increased the cost on an Internet connection with broadband ...

Kourosh Ziabari, Foreign Policy, 'Iran’s Leaders Are Scared of the Internet', 6 June 2022 "It is expected that in the final stage of the law’s implementation, still being pondered by the parliament, basic services such as Google, Gmail, ...

ABNA, Seminar on “How to deal with fake news in cyberspace” held in Tehran University, 18 May 2022 "The 11th session of the series of Scientific Seminars of “Religion and cyberspace” entitled ...

AFP/France 24, Israel says Iran tried to recruit agents via Facebook "Israel's internal security agency on Monday accused Iran of using a fake Facebook profile to try and get Israelis to collect information and harm people in their ...

Benjamin R. Young, National Interest, How Iran Built Hezbollah Into a Top Cyber Power "Under the direction of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hezbollah's new cyber unit is ...

Sayeh Isfahani, Atlantic Council, The Internet ‘Protection Bill’ will hurt all Iranians, but the queer community will have the most to lose "Data reviewed by ARTICLE19 from 2018 ...

Iran International, Twitter Limiting Accounts Of Governments That Restrict Internet, 6 Apr 2022 "So far, there has been no new move by Twitter to restrict access to Islamic Republic officials. Iranian users have been tweeting if the new policies would impact Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who ...

Iran International, Official Openly Brags About Iran’s Disinformation Network On Twitter

"In a recent interview, Ruhollah Mo’men-Nasab -- a former head of Culture Ministry’s Digital Media Center and the current secretary of cyberspace activities of the Popular Front of Islamic Revolution ...

Fred Petrossian, Global Voices, Well known Iranian blogger Hossein Rongahi goes on hunger strike after his abduction by authorities "Hossein Rongahi Maleki, a prominent blogger, activist, and ...

Bhaswati Guha Majumder, News18, Warning Issued Against Iranian Govt-Linked Hackers Amid Russia-Ukraine Cyberwar: Why It Matters "Iranian hackers linked to the country’s military intelligence ...

Danny Palmer, ZD Net, Iran's hackers are using these tools to steal passwords and deliver ransomware, say FBI and CISA "Hackers linked to the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security ...

Iran International, Iranians Outraged By Government Steps To Limit Internet Access ""You have no right to treat people as if they aren't able to make decisions for themselves or as if they are mentally incapacitated…Representatives of people have no right to act against the wishes ...

Maziar Motamedi, AlJazeera, Iran’s internet bill expected to progress despite overturned vote, 23 Feb 2022

"A controversial snap vote by Iranian lawmakers on progressing an internet restrictions bill has been overturned, ...

Sky News, This band were jailed for making heavy metal music. Now, they're staging a comeback ""My case was this thick," he says, gesturing with his hand. "When they ...

Maryam Mirza, Deutsche Welle, Iran tightens grip on internet freedom, 15 Feb 2022 "More than two years after a weeklong total shutdown of the internet in Iran, Iran's parliament, known as the Majlis, has now said that it will send the Protection Bill, known ...

Asharq Al-Awsat, Iran Shuts Down News Website over Image of Decapitated Woman "Iran has shut down a news website after it published an image of a man holding what was said to be the head of his wife in his hand, the state-run IRAN newspaper reported on Monday."

Broadband Breakfast, Facebook is Failing Iranians, and Iran’s Leaders Are About to Launch a Censored Internet, 28 Jan 2022 "A lack of cultural understanding by Facebook, Instagram, and other social media ...

Amir Vahdat, AP/ABC News, Iran arrests 17 pranksters over videos that 'spread panic'

"Iran's conservative authorities, many with religious sensibilities who view Western influence with suspicion, maintain tight control over ...

Bobby Ghosh, Bloomberg, Iran Is Crushing What’s Left of Internet Freedom

"By the World Bank’s reckoning, 84% of Iranians use the Internet. For several years now, the regime has blocked access to tens of thousands of websites, ...

Thomas Brewster, Forbes, Iranian Hackers Abuse Slack For Cyber Spying

"IBM researchers claim an Iranian-linked crew called MuddyWater has been trying to avoid detection by using Slack to control their malware. It’s believed ...

Tate Ryan-Mosley, MIT Technology Review, This huge Chinese company is selling video surveillance systems to Iran

"A Chinese company is selling its surveillance technology to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, police, and military, according ...

Rudaw, Iranian animal lovers decry plan to ban pets

"Some internet users reacted with irony and sarcasm.

""How many times have cats sought to devour you so that you consider them wild, harmful and dangerous?" journalist Yeganeh Khodami asked on Twitter.""

Sahab Bahar, The Atlantic, Iran’s water is running dry. Now its water woes are worsening, 13 Dec 2021

" ... many Iranians took to Twitter and Instagram to show their solidarity with Isfahan protesters. Two hashtags, ...

Mariam Memarsadeghi, Wall Street Journal, The Ayatollahs’ Twitter Trolls, 9 Dec 2021 opinion/analysis

"On Twitter, for example, a respected anonymous Iranian political satirist with the account ...

Sead Fadilpašić, Tech Radar, This old Internet Explorer bug is being used to steal Google, Instagram logins

"As reported by Bleeping Computer, security researchers from SafeBreach Labs have recently discovered a new ...

Middle East Eye, Iran's Revolutionary Guard launches George Floyd video game

"Basij, the paramilitary arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has launched a new mobile video game called Saving Freedom, centred around rescuing ...

Jon Gambrell, AP/ABC, Iran says cyberattack closes gas stations across country, 26 Oct 2021 "The semiofficial ISNA news agency, which first called the incident a cyberattack, said it saw those trying to buy fuel with a government-issued ...

Sarbas Nazari, BBC News, Iran: The painful choices of being pregnant and unmarried "Iran's establishment argues that economic challenges and complicated pre-marriage rituals are pushing single Iranians away from conventional, religiously-approved marriages."

Al-Monitor, Iran’s president calls for tighter internet control"In a meeting with the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi called for “digitizing” the government while also expanding controls over the internet." ...

Nahid Siamdoust, Atlantic Council, Down the ‘Rathole’: How a rapper channels Iran regime change discourse, 12 Oct 2021

"In the highly divided Iranian social media sphere riddled with disinformation infused by ...

Middle East Eye, Iranian press review: Khamenei calls for cyber 'jihad' "Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called on university students to use cyberspace and social media to neutralise what he referred to as "propaganda attacks by Iran's ...

Mansour Piroti, Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, Bar-Ilan University, The Ever-Growing Iranian Cyber Threat

"The Iranian regime has been a considerable threat to global cybersecurity ever since 2012, when it committed cyberattacks on US financial institutions in retaliation ...

Najmeh Bozorgmehr, FT, Iranians say ‘I do’ to state-sanctioned online romance

"“Iranians are now confused about how to identify themselves: with Iranian nationalism? Shiism? Tradition? Or their desire for western lifestyle?” said one sociopolitical analyst. “Who ...

Cointelegraph, Illegal crypto mining not the cause of power shortages in Iran, ministry says

"Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade questioned Tavanir’s claims that illegal mining activities consume 2,000 megawatts of ...

Nada AlTaher, The National, Iran prison head ‘sorry’ as leaked videos show beatings and abuse in Evin jail

"Footage showing conditions in the prison was leaked online by a little-known group of hackers ...

Sayeh Isfahani, Free Speech Project, The Slate, Iran Aims to End Online Freedoms “for Good”

"It [Cyberspace Users Rights Protection and Regulation of Key Online Services Bill] would also introduce a multitiered system that would rank citizens ...

Sky News, Chinese cyber spies 'posed as Iranians while targeting Israeli government'

"A cyber espionage group from China masqueraded as Iranian hackers while breaking into and spying on Israeli government institutions, ...

RFE/RL, Iranians Fear Turning Into Another 'North Korea' If Draconian Internet Censorship Bill Passes "Internet experts and media-freedom advocates fear the bill will put the final nail in the coffin of Internet freedom in Iran, where citizens are forced to access banned ...

Protests have a social media emphasis. Reports below have differint political emphases and opinions:

VOA, Iran Protests Spread to Tehran, Which Sees Biggest Anti-Government March in 18 Months

"'Video ...

Vice, Iran Launched a Matchmaking App Because Young People Aren’t Procreating

"“Hamdam,” ...

Reuters, Middle East Eye, Facebook says Iranian hackers used site in spying on U.S. military personnel

"The social media giant said the group, dubbed 'Tortoiseshell' by security experts, used fake online personas ...

Asia Times, Iran poised to be plunged into utter cyber-darkness

"Deliberations are underway in Iran’s parliament to outlaw the use of international social media platforms and instant messaging services, legislation that threatens to cast the country ...

Janine di Giovanni, The National, Virtual memorials humanise victims in the digital age

"The sisters, Roya and Ladan Boroumand, both academics, are producing a virtual memory, called Omid, which means "hope" ...

Here's the Persian translation of an interview I gave a few weeks' ago, on mazari.ir:

گفتگوی اختصاصی با دکتر گری بونت پژوهشگر بین المللی مطالعات اسلامی فضای مجازی
You can find the [English version here](گفتگوی اختصاصی با دکتر گری بونت پژوهشگر بین المللی مطالعات اسلامی فضای مجازی)

Al Jazeera, These Iranian woman are crushing it in crypto "As Iran’s crypto community grows, so does the number of women making their mark on it. Mostly young, self-taught and multi-disciplined, they are swelling the ranks ...

NPR, In Iran, Clubhouse Means Unfiltered Chats, ...

AL-Monitor, Iran’s supreme leader authorized infowar campaign during US election

ODNI ...

Arab Weekly, Internet shutdowns seen as Iran’s systematic tool against protests

"The authorities seek to prevent people from using social media messaging services to mobilise protests but also hinder the documentation of rights violations."

AP/ABC, Music video on Iranian app with US porn actress spurs probe

"The Iranian Rubika application was being investigated by officials after it published a brief teaser from the “Tehran Tokyo" music video by California-based ...

AP/ABC News, Internet disruption reported in southeast Iran amid unrest

"Iran’s impoverished southeast has experienced wide disruptions and outages of internet service over the past week, as unrest gripped the remote ...

Gordon Corera, BBC News, Iran 'hides spyware in wallpaper, restaurant and games apps' :"Iran is running two surveillance operations in cyber-space, targeting more than 1,000 dissidents, according to a leading cyber-security company."

Asharq Al-Awsat, Twitter Suspends ‘Fake’ Account that Carried Link to Iran Supreme Leader’s Website

"Twitter said on Friday it had suspended what it said was a fake account that carried a link to the website ...

Gizmodo, Iranian Spying Campaign Sent Holiday Greetings Riddled with Malware

"An infamous Middle Eastern hacker cell, APT 35 (also known as “Charming Kitten”), recently launched a spear phishing campaign tailored to the festive December atmosphere: ...

Middle East Eye, Iranian press review: Former vice president for women's affairs jailed

"On Saturday, Fars news agency reported that Shahindokht Molaverdi, Iran's vice president for women's affairs in ...

Mehr Nadeem, RestofWorld, Selfies and Sharia police, 9 Nov 2020

"As the last open social media platform in Iran, Instagram offers a rare glimpse into the interior lives of everyday Iranians: Feeds are filled with blurry Polaroids of house parties, teens snowboarding, and ...