restricts - Laughing Hyena

People in Iran have been having difficulties accessing internet services, mostly foreign websites and messaging apps like WhatsApp. According to The New York Times and NBC News, it was the government’s decision to restrict internet in the country to ward off cyberattacks by Israel as the conflict between the countries escalate. Fatemeh Mohajerani, Iran’s spokesperson, said the government was forced to throttle internet speeds in the country to maintain network stability “given the enemy’s cyber attacks.” Iran reportedly plans to reduce its internet bandwidth by 80 percent.

Kentinc and Netblocks, companies which track global internet connectivity, told NBC News that Iran’s connection plummeted at around 5:30PM Eastern time on June 17. Iranians have been having issues accessing online services for days, however, with their mobile data networks being completely down in parts of the country and the VPNs they were using to access foreign websites being blocked intermittently. In addition to blocking WhatsApp, the Iranian government urged citizens to delete it from their smartphones, accusing it of collecting information to send to Israel. WhatsApp told AP that it was “concerned these false reports will be an excuse for [its] services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most.”

While Iran’s spokesperson said that the government is blocking and slowing down the country’s internet connection as a way to prevent Israeli cyberattacks, it’s also making it harder for people to get warnings about incoming attacks and to contact loved ones in cases of emergency. And since maps like Google’s also aren’t working, people trying to evacuate are also reportedly getting lost. Iran is urging its citizens to use its national internet services or N.I.N., which remain available and allow messaging using government platforms, but people don’t think they’re secure.

It’s worth noting that Iran also seems to have launched its own cyber attacks on Israel. As The Verge notes, cybersecurity firm Radware reported a surge in cyberattacks on Israel since its strike on Iran. The firm believes they were carried out by Iranian state actors and pro-Iran hacker groups. Iran had been linked to several cyberattacks in the past, including an instance wherein hackers associated with the country stole US voter information and sent intimidating emails to Democrat voters.

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As is not unusual among folks of a certain age, it’s hard not to wonder about the effects of unfettered internet access on my impressionable younger self. Ah well, back to doomscrolling and staring into the vast content pit it is. Wait, what was I doing? Oh, yes, the news!

Earlier this week Texas governor Greg Abbott signed into law a bill that will require both Google and Apple’s app stores to verify the age of its users from January 1 (via Reuters). Once this law comes into effect in 2026, folks under the age of 18 throughout the state will have to get parental consent to download apps or make in-app purchases. Texas also has another bill awaiting a Senate vote that aims more specifically to restrict children’s access to social media apps, too.

Apple and Google are understandably less than keen, arguing that the blanket age verification requirements overreach and making the case it’s really only necessary for select apps. Apple issued a statement to Reuters, saying, “If enacted, app marketplaces will be required to collect and keep sensitive personal identifying information for every Texan who wants to download an app, even if it’s an app that simply provides weather updates or sports scores.”

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Still, this isn’t necessarily a done deal. Last year in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a ban on social media accounts for anyone under the age of 14. This February, a judge considered blocking the ban amid concerns it would unconstitutionally curtail free speech. As of right now, the ban stands in Florida, but a similar free speech challenge could find its way to slowing down the Texas bills.

The Apple and Alphabet-backed Chamber of Progress already has something to say on that front. The group’s vice president, Kathleen Farley, told Reuters, “A big path for challenge is that it burdens adult speech in attempting to regulate children’s speech. I would say there are arguments that this is a content-based regulation singling out digital communication.”

Utah was the first US state to pass an app store age verification bill into law back in March of this year. This followed laws directly addressing minors’ access to social media back in 2023, though obviously concerns about young people’s access to apps and social media more broadly has been bubbling the world over. For instance, last year Australia proposed a ban on social media for everyone under the age of 16 that will ultimately come into effect later this year. Tech-savvy teenagers across the land have likely already cracked a way to get around it.

As for the social media companies themselves, they’ve been surprisingly positive about these legislative developments stateside—though that’s likely out of buck-passing relief. Meta, Snap, and X issued a joint statement in response to the Utah law’s passing this year that said, “Parents want a one-stop shop to verify their child’s age and grant permission for them to download apps in a privacy-preserving way. The app store is the best place for it. We applaud Utah for putting parents in charge with its landmark legislation and urge Congress to follow suit.”

Though I see the free speech argument, I only trust each of the big tech companies tangled up in this as far as I can throw them—to say nothing of the state of Texas pulling the ‘think of the children’ card. I’m not going to stand here and pretend I only ever had positive experiences with social media as a young’un, but it would also be remiss to not acknowledge how it opened up my world when the walls of my day-to-day looked miserably narrow. Age verification and a blanket ban would’ve protected me from some things, while also potentially reinforcing how hopeless I felt…if I didn’t bother to figure out how to sideload my apps or otherwise circumnavigate the need for age verification.

The trouble with bans, in my humble opinion, is that they often present a tough image without actually addressing the core issue. Arguably the ‘core issue’ here is not one straightforward thing—but the rollback of both content and fact-checking moderation policies by major players like Meta certainly doesn’t help. In fact, there arguably aren’t any well-moderated online spaces for young people, with even the CEO of the extremely popular Roblox saying, “Don’t let your kids be on Roblox.” The very real risks posed by social media to children aren’t going to go away simply because all the young’uns have been banned, instead likely only creating more cracks for young people to disappear down.

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