Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said that his government’s plan to remove internet filtering does not mean that control over cyberspace will be abandoned.
The president made the remark at a cabinet session on Wednesday (November 13), a day after he chaired a meeting of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, a governing body in charge of decisions on how to deal with the harms of the Internet. During that meeting, the president instructed members of the council to form a working group tasked with examining various aspects of internet filtering to help come up with a final decision aimed at alleviating concerns over the restrictions.
The government’s plan to lift internet restrictions does not mean that control over virtual space will be abandoned, Pezeshkian said at the cabinet session.
The plan will instead strengthen governance of cyberspace and lead to the optimal use of the Internet by the people, he added.
The president explained that the government intends to provide education and produce cultural content, especially for teenagers and the youth, and boost government services on social media platforms in an effort to optimize the use of the Internet.
Internet filtering was due to resolve some problems faced by the country, but it has worsened conditions and caused public discontent, Pezeshkian said, citing surveys conducted to assess the social impacts of the filtering.
He said that his government seeks to create a common view with other governing institutes regarding the necessity to remove the filtering.