Iran has promised to block its citizens from using the Signal app. A committee has been inaugurated to look into social media issues and is headed by the country's top prosecutors.
Iran Government to stop Signal
Iran has initiated moves to block the Signal app from operating in the country as many Iranians downloaded the messaging app after growing anonymity concerns from WhatsApp.
On Monday morning, there have been several notable concerns from users to connect to the open-source Signal App. This media platform has seen many Iranian users as it promises to be more secure and have better encryption features. Earlier last month, WhatsApp came under heavy criticism for its data collection policies which will see many users' privacy being affected. In a statement on Twitter, Signal has assured users in Iran that it will 'try to get around Iran's government censorship' in a short while.
The app has become the most downloaded app in many Iranian app stores which has raised some dust in Tehran. When efforts to stop users from signing up failed, they have used IR sensors to divert all signal traffic and make it difficult for users in Iran to use it.
Signal promises to find a way
Signal said 'Iranians deserve some level of privacy, and we will give them that. We are working on ways to provide the services in these times''. This move has been going on since January 15 when Signal was told to leave the Iran version of Google Play store 'Cafe Bazar' and another top store' Myket '.
The messaging app was flagged by a government committee whose work was identifying' online criminal content '. This committee is headed by the Iran prosecution chief and has members from all security agencies.
However, in a statement by Gholamhossein Esmaili he said the government hasn't blocked any social media app, news outlets nor have any intention of blocking them. According to sources, this isn't the first time Tehran is targeting the Signal app, around 2016 and 2017, it was blocked but the filtering continued because users at that time were few.