Over a Year into Internet Restrictions, Government Initiatives Seek to Promote Local Digital Platforms.
Government’s Ongoing Efforts to Support Domestic Digital Platforms
According to IDEA, Despite over a year of internet restrictions and the filtering of popular platforms, such as Instagram, reports of significant losses faced by businesses, primarily due to Instagram’s filter, have largely received neutral responses from government authorities.
The unveiling of an official directive for supporting digital platforms and the consideration of tax incentives for businesses operating on domestic platforms, approved by the Council of Ministers, reflect the government’s continuous efforts to encourage the growth of local platforms in the face of international competition under filtering conditions.
These programs, designed with two explicit objectives of supporting domestic platforms and compensating affected businesses, have yet to yield concrete results.
Criticizing Delayed Compensation Plans for Businesses Affected by Internet Restrictions
Shahab Javanmardi, the CEO of the “Fanap” holding, was among the first to express skepticism about the newly introduced regulations, highlighting their unclear implementation timeline and their inability to compensate businesses for the prolonged internet restrictions and continued filtering of foreign platforms. Javanmardi asserted that, in reality, many of these businesses, once they face difficulties, cannot recover. He stated, “Saying that we will help you doesn’t solve the problem. Many of these businesses were not even registered or complemented another business, helping to drive sales with lower costs and a larger audience. Now, they are asking us to register in this program, and after a lengthy evaluation, they might provide assistance. We see that after a year of implementing these regulations, we haven’t made much progress.”
According to Javanmardi, in a climate where users lack confidence in domestic platforms and face challenges with trust in their use, it’s unrealistic to expect that, after filtering, both end-users and businesses will readily transition to using domestic platforms.
Criticizing Government’s Efforts to Promote Domestic Platforms Over Instagram
Nima Namdari, the CEO of the “Karnama” platform, believes that the newly introduced regulations primarily target two objectives: encouraging businesses to use domestic platforms and addressing the issue of taxation for informal businesses. When discussing the goals of these regulations, Namdari stated, “What can be understood from the clauses of these regulations is that they are targeting personal and home-based businesses that were active on Instagram, and now they want to encourage them to migrate from foreign platforms to domestic ones. In my opinion, one of the main motivations behind these regulations is to mitigate the impact of the Instagram filter.”
He goes on to explain, “One of the consequences of the Instagram filter was the criticisms regarding the damage inflicted on businesses, especially small and home-based businesses. Now, the government is making efforts through these regulations to diminish the advantages of Instagram and steer Iranian businesses towards using domestic platforms. In my view, the government will not succeed in this endeavor because Instagram has a user base in the tens of millions in Iran. Despite the somewhat unreliable statistics presented by the Ministry of Communications regarding the reception of certain domestic platforms, which are introduced as competitors to Instagram, they still have a long way to go in terms of user numbers compared to Instagram.”
Reporting Highlights Challenges of Encouraging Local Messaging Apps Amidst Filtering
After Instagram, two other filtered services, namely Telegram with 41% and WhatsApp with 37%, also face restrictions. Contrary to the claims of the Minister of Communications that the use of domestic messaging apps is on the rise among the public and businesses, at the very least, this report indicates that domestic messaging apps have played a minimal role in the development of e-commerce activities. According to a survey by the Center for E-commerce Development, the usage of native social networks and messaging apps as a complementary business space is very limited. Among these, Eitaa only holds a 21% share, followed by Rubika with 14%, Bale with 11%, and Soroush with 5%.
In this context, experts suggest that the government’s best course of action to support domestic businesses, rather than considering regulations without tangible results to force their migration to local platforms, is to remove filtering and restrictions. In essence, allowing foreign platforms to operate in the country, following the common global practice, and thereby granting businesses the right to choose their operating environment in a fair and competitive process.
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