Signal is reportedly under assault from Iranian authorities as interest is surging amid speculation the regime already has access to users' information on other pop messaging apps.

According to Al Jazeera, many users of the privacy-focused messaging app in Iran have reported being unable to connect since Signal took the top position at the Google Play Store in the country this calendar month. The app has already been removed from Iranian app stores Buffet Bazaar and Myket.

In a tweet, Indicate claimed it was "#1 on the Iranian authorities'southward cake list" and working to become around the country'due south attempts at censorship.

The report says that a commission of Iranian officials tasked with identifying "criminal content" has tagged Signal every bit a threat. However, a government spokesman too claimed the judiciary had non "blocked whatever media, news outlet or messaging service" and had no intentions of doing so.

Iran faced a big number of widespread civil protests in November 2019 amid the economic hardship brought on by U.South. sanctions, allegations of government corruption, an increase in the price of fuel, and later from the COVID-xix pandemic. Many social media posts at the fourth dimension showed Iranian government killing protesters, resulting in the authorities shutting down the internet for virtually anybody in the country for days.

Residents of Iran can at present send messages through WhatsApp and Instagram, merely many speculate that the government has been able to access the apps, finer offering no privacy. Iranian authorities currently block Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Telegram, the last of which reportedly takes upward 60% of the country'southward net bandwidth.

Though Iran attempted to cake Telegram in 2018 amid users sharing violent reactions to protesters from authorities, many residents accept been able to circumvent these restrictions with VPNs. The app is withal widely used in the country nether these conditions, but privacy remains a business organization every bit rumors circulate the government may even have access to Telegram.

Alex Gladstein of the Human Rights Foundation has said privacy tools similar Signal have been used by similar movements in the The states — specifically, Black Lives Thing protests — "every bit a way to stay rubber from police surveillance." He opined that anyone living under a dictatorship is virtually likely to demand privacy, and consequently demonizing Signal in a democratic country could lead to a bigger police force land fueled by "mass surveillance to fight extremism."

Digital rights researcher Amir Rashidi echoed this sentiment in the Al Jazeera report on the effort to shut down Signal:

"Traditionally, whenever the Iranian regime tin can't figure out what is going on or who is doing what, they fright maybe people are doing something confronting the government."