Iran's conservatives return to Telegram after failed ban
After banning Telegram, Iran's conservatives are now returning to the messaging app to protect Iranians from "the poisoned propaganda of the enemy."
When hard-liners in Iran succeeded in banning the popular smartphone messaging app Telegram, they were unlikely to have predicted that they would return to the very same platform seven months later.
On April 30, the conservative-dominated judiciary ordered internet service providers to block access to Telegram, despite opposition from Iran's moderate government. The messaging app, which has more than 42 million users in Iran, played a major role in the re-election of President Hassan Rouhani in 2017. Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani, the head of Iran's judiciary, said the judiciary acted against the app due to "thousands of lawsuits" against Telegram.
