Iran Reportedly Orders Operators To Block Signal Messaging App
January 25, 2021 15:36 GMT
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The Iranian monthly Peivast is
reporting that Iran has blocked the private encrypted messaging application Signal, ordering mobile operators to filter it from their networks.
The report comes after the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) said on
Twitter earlier on January 25 that Iran seems to have started blocking the application.
The move follows the January 14 removal of Signal from local application stores after it was reportedly deemed
criminal content by the Islamic republic s filtering committee.
The authorities have not publicly commented on the decision to ban Signal.
Last September, Cuba s minister of communications Jorge Luis Perdomo gave an interview on internet access to the Russian state channel Russia Today.
Asked if there were any politically-motivated reasons behind restrictions on internet access in Cuba, Perdomo smiled and replied that “there have never been any political motivations to block access to information to the Cuban population”.
He added that “restrictions to Internet access in Cuba are due, only and exclusively, to the economic limitations we have faced”.
Indeed, high-ranking Cuban officials usually justify internet access restrictions due to a lack of financial resources.
Unlike other countries where direct investment in industry usually comes from big transnational capitals, Cuba’s investment is made solely through state-owned companies.