Digital bomb: How ‘elite’ internet access deepened divisions in Iran amid rising anger

Dubai: Tehran’s prolonged internet blackout is no longer just cutting Iranians off from the outside world — it is now creating what critics describe as a two-tier digital system dividing the country into privileged insiders and millions trapped behind censorship walls.

More than two months into Iran’s sweeping internet restrictions, frustration is boiling over as selected groups receive access to a special programme called “Internet Pro” while ordinary citizens struggle with blackouts, soaring VPN costs and collapsing online businesses.

The restrictions, imposed after anti-government protests in January and tightened further following US-Israeli strikes on February 28, have become the longest nationwide internet shutdown recorded in a connected society.

For millions of Iranians who rely on online access for work, education and communication, the impact has been devastating.

“Imagine dealing with unemployment and crazy inflation, and somehow managing to scrape together money just to buy a few gigabytes of VPN to check the news or have a voice online,” a Tehran resident named Faraz told CNN.

“And then you see people with unrestricted access acting like everything is normal. It feels like a punch to the gut.”

Rise of Iran’s ‘internet elite’

At the centre of the controversy is Internet Pro — a restricted-access system launched earlier this year through the Mobile Communications Company of Iran (MCI), which is linked to entities close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The programme reportedly offers faster and less-filtered access to international websites for approved users including business owners, academics, scientists and selected professionals.

Iran’s internet blackout — by the numbers

• 70+ days: Length of Iran’s current internet shutdown, according to NetBlocks

• $2.6 billion: Estimated economic losses from the blackout

• 1 million: Jobs Iranian officials say have already been lost

• 2 million: Additional indirect unemployment estimated by officials

• 3.5 million: Workers potentially affected by industrial contraction

• 318,000: Record resumes reportedly submitted in a single day on an Iranian job platform

• 80 million dollars: Estimated daily losses to Iran’s digital economy during shutdown

• 80-90%: Marketing channels some online businesses say they lost during blackout

• 134%: Smartphone penetration rate in Iran before restrictions intensified

• Why it matters:

• Analysts say the shutdown is not only disrupting communications but accelerating recession, layoffs and long-term damage to Iran’s private sector and digital economy.

Critics say it effectively restores the unrestricted internet once available to all Iranians — but only for a privileged minority.

Independent Iranian outlet Khabar Online warned the policy was creating “a digital elite” while ordinary citizens are left trapped behind heavy filtering, slow speeds and an expensive black-market VPN economy.

“The main issue is no longer just filtering or shutdowns,” lawyer Mohammad-Hamid Shahrivar told Shargh newspaper. “It is now about redefining the right to access the internet.”

Black market booms

As restrictions tightened, VPN prices surged sharply, adding to public anger in a country already struggling with inflation, sanctions and wartime disruption.

Human Rights Activists in Iran estimated the shutdown has already cost the economy about $1.8 billion over the past two months — a figure echoed by Iran’s Chamber of Commerce.

The newspaper Ettela’at warned the restrictions had created a “dire and complicated situation” for virtual businesses and online workers.

Many Iranians now spend significant portions of their income simply trying to reconnect to the outside world.

Some have turned to illegal Starlink satellite receivers smuggled into the country to bypass restrictions entirely, despite the risk of arrest and national security charges.

Others remain dependent on costly VPNs or heavily monitored domestic platforms backed by the state.

Deepening divisions inside Iran

The controversy has also exposed rare public divisions within Iran’s leadership.

Although the Supreme National Security Council reportedly approved the Internet Pro system, President Masoud Pezeshkian’s government has publicly distanced itself from the policy.

Pezeshkian’s office recently described unequal access to the global internet as unfair, while Communications Minister Sattar Hashemi insisted high-quality internet access was “every Iranian’s right”.

But hardline figures associated with Iran’s cyber control apparatus have defended the restrictions, arguing they are necessary to protect critical infrastructure from cyberattacks.

Public anger has meanwhile intensified over reports that privileged Internet Pro SIM cards are already appearing on the black market for profit.

Even some labour unions, lawyers’ groups and the Iranian Psychiatric Association have criticised the tiered system, warning it risks deepening feelings of injustice, marginalisation and social distrust.

At a time when Iran’s leadership is trying to project national unity against the US and Israel, the battle over internet access is instead exposing widening fractures inside Iranian society.

For many Iranians, the internet shutdown has become more than a censorship issue.

It is now a symbol of inequality itself.