Instagram is joining Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp on Iran’s ban list

Iran’s top officials may use social media, but the country’s general populace isn’t allowed to join them. The nation has already banned Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, and yesterday it reportedly added Instagram to the naughty list. According to the AP, a private lawsuit was brought against Iran’s Ministry of Communications, forcing the bureau to restrict access to the Zuckerberg-owned photo-sharing service. There’s no evidence that such filtering is in place right now, and users in Tehran were still able to take some selfies on Friday lunchtime. 

A court in Iran issued a nationwide ban of Instagram this Friday, according to a report by the Associated Press. The popular photo-sharing app joins a list of other banned social media services in the country, including Twitter and Instagram’s parent Facebook. The ban apparently stems from a private lawsuit, resulting in a court order to shut off access to the service amid privacy concerns. The ban was handed down to Iran’s Ministry of Telecommunications yesterday, though the AP report states that by noon Friday some citizens still had access to Instagram in Tehran. There’s been a dichotomy among Iran’s population for some time, with top government officials employing social media for political and diplomatic purposes while the country’s youth are denied free access. Many of the country’s youth still access social media via proxy servers, often using the services to protest government actions.