Telegram became the popular messenger of Iranians again

After the severe filtering of platforms such as Instagram and WhatsApp, Telegram became the popular messenger of Iranians again and more users joined it.

For some time now, severe and wide restrictions have been imposed on Iran’s Internet, and many businesses have been disrupted in this regard. In order to be able to use foreign platforms for only a few minutes, domestic users must use filtering bypass tools such as filter breakers. Of course, these days the government has also blocked the filter breakers and sometimes the situation becomes so awful that it is not possible to exchange a simple message.

According to statistics published by some reliable sources, since the day internet restrictions started, the use of tools like VPN has grown three thousand times. Right now, if you want to benefit from foreign messengers, you must either have a VPN or restrict the use of them.

According to some experts in the field of technology, buying and using filter breakers is a futile way and only brings additional costs to users. Also, as it has been emphasized many times, some of these filtering bypass tools are not only not functional, but have stolen the identity and personal information of users in the form of malware.

The hot market of filter breakers

We said that at the same time as restrictions are imposed on the international Internet, many users have gone to use filtering bypass tools such as VPNs. According to the head of research of a VPN company, Simon Migliano, the demand for virtual private network (VPN) services in Iran has increased by more than three thousand percent compared to the last two weeks.

In addition, Google has announced that the use of the outline tool has also faced an increase in demand. Outline is a tool that allows users to set up secure firewalls so that the government cannot detect or censor them. One of the technology experts named Arin Iqbal recently said:

Filter breakers are useful for users only when they facilitate their access to social networks. When the internet goes down all over the world, access to the filter breakers is also impossible. These days, even the protocol of two-stage filter breakers has been identified, and these filter breakers are no longer the answer. There is a possibility that some people will sell old and useless filter breakers to people by abusing the current situation. This issue also increases the risk of the emergence of malware, because many malwares have infiltrated people’s devices in the form of filter breakers and can be a threat to users’ personal information and privacy.

Also, according to another expert in the field of technology, the current filter breakers that are used by people will become unusable over time, because their protocols will fail. This is the reason why many users throughout Iran use VPN. Saeed Suzangar further explained:

In general, this compulsion to migrate from social networks to domestic messengers and people’s resistance to access international social networks has caused users to install any filter breaker on their mobile phones without security considerations. The filtering of Google Play and App Store has also increased the market of downloading malicious applications through unofficial sources. Most of the applications that are in unofficial markets are malware and abuse users’ information and eventually steal their information.

Migration to internal messengers

Some users are forced to use messenger for various reasons such as work or family communication. With the filtering of platforms such as WhatsApp and Instagram, users have gone to use internal messengers. Also, managers of internal messengers have announced that they have faced an increase in users in the last two weeks.

According to Mehdi Anjidni, the CEO of Payam Rasan Gap, a significant amount of new users have entered the said platform in recent days. Enjidni explained that new users are significantly more active than old users. The Minister of Communications recently announced the strengthening of similar domestic platforms by supporting domestic messengers.

The main problem of Iranian users with internal messengers is the issue of data security. Also, according to the belief of technology experts, there is only one reason that people have moved to internal messengers, and that is the compulsion to communicate with others in the information world. Saeed Suzangar once again mentioned about internal messengers:

People are tired of continuing to filter social networks and now they are forced to use internal messengers that can at least transfer their VPN files through these networks; But increasing the number of users visiting internal messengers does not mean that new members will become their permanent users. In fact, users use these messengers to meet their current needs and to regain access to international social networks.

Users have moved to Telegram again

Although the internet restrictions have been severe and widespread in the last two weeks, many users have migrated to Telegram during these days. According to official statistics, currently nearly 45 million Iranian users use Telegram messenger because now Telegram is the best social network that can be found.

Telegram’s proxy feature has become more and more useful for Iranian users these days, and in a situation where almost no foreign messenger can be used, even though it is difficult, Telegram can still be used, and this has caused Iranian users to return to Telegram messenger.

According to Arin Iqbal, currently some people emphasize that WhatsApp has been unfiltered for them and some declare that this social network is still filtered. According to Iqbal, WhatsApp filtering has not been removed and the problem that has arisen means that there is a problem in the country’s filtering system. Iqbal also stated:

These days, many users have switched to Telegram due to WhatsApp filtering. If it is about WhatsApp’s permanent filtering, users will choose Telegram between these two messengers; Because this messenger has higher quality and better features than WhatsApp.