(Washington Insider Magazine)-Elon Musk has taken to Twitter again and announced he’s activating Starlink in Iran. But what does this mean for protests in Iran?
Ongoing protests in Iran continue to contribute to the turmoil that arose after Mahsa Amini was killed while in police custody. The 22-year-old woman was arrested for not adhering to the strict clothing requirements for Muslim women, sparking protests throughout the country.
After Amini’s death, protests have led to thousands of arrests and it’s believed that dozens of Iranian citizens have been killed. Senior officials in Iran have not condemned the protests, although they acknowledged that military personnel were also killed in the riots.
Activating Starlink in Iran is unlikely–even for someone like Elon Musk. They’ve sent over 15,000 Starlink terminals to Ukraine to fight against Russia over the past several months, but Iran has security restrictions that will likely prevent Starlink from entering the country.
Starlink would need to be smuggled into Iran for at least a few million dollars. Additionally, the Iranian government disabled Starlink’s website so no Iranian citizens can access it from the internet.
Legal challenges
Many Iranians are putting their hopes into Starlink to help them during the economic turmoil. However, Aljazeera reports that the only result Starlink has achieved so far is attracting hackers to create malware that makes it look like the required software to download Starlink.
Hackers then gain access to sensitive information and data that they can use to steal identities and make fraudulent purchases online.
Other legal challenges may also come into play if the Iranian government fails to cooperate. The Iranian government has a history of drawing attention to grievances with Western nations like the United States, so we expect to see some opposition in the coming months.
Internet restrictions in Iran
Iran shut down the internet in 2019 after protests regarding fuel prices broke out across the country, leaving over 85 million people in the dark without internet access. However, things are different this time since the Iranian government is developing better ways to restrict internet access from its citizens.
