Statement of the National Cyberspace Center on the removal of Iranian applications from the Play Store

The National Cyberspace Center reacted to the removal of Iranian applications, including Rubika and Magnifier, in the Google Play Store by issuing a statement.

Recently, the creation of users’ accounts without their permission by Rubika created a lot of margins and caused a wave of criticism towards Iranian applications. In this regard, reporting users in app stores, including the Play Store, caused Google to remove two applications, Rubika and Magnifier, from its store. In this regard, the National Cyberspace Center reacted to the removal of Iranian applications such as Rubika and Magnifier in the Google Play Store by issuing a statement.

The reaction of the National Cyberspace Center to the removal of Iranian applications

The text of the statement of the National Cyberspace Center regarding the removal of Iranian applications in the Play Store is as follows:

Following Google’s recent monopoly action to remove the popular Iranian applications of Rubika and Zarbin, the National Cyberspace Center condemned the move, declaring that the companies were acting as a platform for stability in business stability. Iranians create a threat in cyberspace and abuse their monopoly position in the market to counter the emergence of competitors in local markets, thus violating the cultural, social and economic rights of millions of Iranian citizens and businesses.

The National Cyberspace Center aims to “improve business conditions related to virtual technologies and take advantage of employment opportunities as well as boost content, services and commerce in this area”, these unilateral and intrusive actions of Google without informing or allowing users and companies to sue Iranians are seen as violating the social responsibility of companies in respecting the rights of citizens, including the right to development and legitimate business, as well as threatening the national sovereignty of the country in cyberspace. Therefore, this center takes the necessary measures to create conditions for fair competition of Iranian businesses, and considering that Google has been tried and convicted in many cases in the world for violating anti-monopoly laws, this issue has been resolved through channels. International and competent courts pursue legal action to compensate the damage and then, if the company is not accepted and the illegal anti-competitive behavior is repeated, it will take legal deterrent measures against its activity in the Iranian market.

It is appropriate that the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in the framework of protecting the rights of users and businesses, according to the master plan document and the national information network architecture with the cooperation of other agencies responsible for reducing dependence on external services, especially operating systems violating the rights of users, businesses and Affairs and national sovereignty, to act as soon as possible and provide the necessary support for basic domestic services. Also, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the Judiciary and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, should follow up with the international community to establish the necessary norms and mechanisms to identify and deal with the growing systematic flaw in users’ digital rights by transnational platforms.

Finally, the National Cyberspace Center, in line with the “protection of the privacy of individuals” and the fatwa of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution on the sanctity of violating the privacy of users in cyberspace, announces that any service and application (application) is suspected of violating privacy and Other than the rights of users, it pursues the issue through legal channels to protect the rights of citizens and businesses.