Iran withdraws cyber bill after outcry over free speech
Iran’s government withdrew a controversial internet bill amid mounting public pressure and accusations that it sought to criminalize dissent under the guise of combating false information.
Iran’s government withdrew a controversial internet bill amid mounting public pressure and accusations that it sought to criminalize dissent under the guise of combating false information.
“In line with national cohesion and on the president’s directive, the cabinet today approved the withdrawal of the digital content bill,” government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani announced on X on Wednesday.
The bill, titled “Combating the Dissemination of False Content in Cyberspace,” had sparked fierce backlash since it was submitted to parliament on July 20 by President Masoud Pezeshkian’s cabinet.
It proposed prison terms, bans, and fines for online users. Penalties would be harsher for repeat violations, fake accounts, or posts during “crisis or wartime”.
“This bill is not an obstacle to free speech,” Mohajerani said earlier this month. “Its aim is to address fake and harmful news that damages public trust.”
Critics warned that its vague terms—such as “distorted, misleading, and harmful to public perception"—opened the door for arbitrary prosecutions.
“The bill is not designed to fight lies, but rather to eliminate independent narratives,” journalist Alireza Rajaei wrote last week.
Legal scholar Kambiz Norouzi and Reform Front chair Azar Mansouri both urged Pezeshkian to honor his constitutional commitments to civil liberties.
The proposal came just days after a fragile ceasefire was brokered with Israel. During the 12-day war, widespread internet blackouts across Iran had been attributed to issues of national security.
Over 2,000 citizens were also arrested during and after the war with Israel, accused of spreading false information online.
Though Pezeshkian had campaigned on promises of dialogue and press freedom, reformist figures accused him of enabling the very crackdowns he vowed to resist.
In October, rights watchdog Freedom House ranked Iran as having the world’s third most repressive internet environment and lambasted the Islamic Republic for criminalizing online criticism to boost voter turnout and legitimize its presidential elections.
Though short-lived, the war inflicted deep symbolic and political damage on Tehran.
Strikes on strategic infrastructure, the killing of top commanders and damage to air defense systems raised serious doubts about the Islamic Republic’s capacity to provide security.
Far from healing old wounds, the war exposed and deepened the theocracy’s core weaknesses.
From water and power shortages to currency volatility, from political gridlock to widening social divides, nearly every facet of life in Iran bears the mark of dysfunction.
Instability is now normalized. It’s not the exception but the constant.
The new normal
Even before the war, Iran faced a web of interlocking crises: economic collapse, institutional decay, mass emigration, widespread social discontent, and deep political distrust.
Some political actors believed tactical flexibility or resource redistribution might restore order. Others foresaw collapse as inevitable. Both camps, in different ways, assumed that transformation—whether internal or external—was still possible.
The war has shifted that assumption.
Iran’s ruling establishment no longer appears capable of restoring legitimacy or reorganizing itself, but viable alternatives also seem more fractured than ever.
The opposition is scattered, the political class adrift, and grassroots movements are fragmented and organizationally thin.
Much of society is caught in a suspended state: disillusioned but not mobilized, angry but exhausted.
The Islamic Republic has tightened control—erecting checkpoints, increasing Revolutionary Guards and Basij presence and policing public spaces.
The message is blunt: We are still here. But this is not stability born of legitimacy. It is the visibility of power imposed on restless cities.
Today’s urban order rests not on consent, but on continuous police presence.
A collapsing narrative
The 12-day war exposed the hollowness of official narratives: deterrence, security and regional authority no longer carry weight.
Iran’s vulnerability wasn’t just military. It was discursive. The state’s security narrative took a direct hit.
Worse, the war ended without a lasting peace or credible guarantee against future conflict. Peace itself has become unstable. It’s more of an anxious interlude, not a resolution.
With explosions and air defense activity continuing in multiple regions, many expect a new, possibly more intense, confrontation.
Living With Crisis
The long-held notion that the Islamic Republic feeds on crisis is no longer sufficient.
In the past, crises were instrumental—tactics to manage society and consolidate power. Today, crisis is not just a means of rule but the system’s very foundation.
Crises are no longer resolved; they are extended, normalized, and embedded into daily life. The system doesn’t merely survive crisis—it is sustained by it.
This condition has been made possible by a combination of factors: the absence of a unifying alternative, the suppression of public discourse, the fragmentation of dissent, and the systematic blocking of political imagination.
The state has succeeded in minimizing mobilization through control—but it offers no vision for legitimacy in return.
Power has become form without content—a hollow repetition of authority sustained by imposed hopelessness.
Yet this persistence is not stability.
Chronic instability may appear contained—thanks to force and habituation—but the cracks are widening. The theocracy is more detached than ever from the economic, social and institutional foundations that once upheld it.
The drift into slow, grinding dysfunction leaves the country vulnerable to sudden shocks: social uprisings in neglected regions, systemic failures in water, health, or energy, or collective protests triggered by seemingly small sparks.
The Islamic Republic may still be standing—but the ground beneath it has never been shakier.
“The nuclear issue, uranium enrichment, and human rights are just excuses,” Khamenei said during a ceremony marking the 40th day after the deaths of Iranian military commanders and scientists killed during a recent 12-day conflict with Israel.
“Their real problem is Iran’s religion, knowledge, and national unity under the banner of Islam and the Quran.”
US President Donald Trump on Sunday expressed surprise at Tehran’s continued insistence on uranium enrichment despite last month’s American airstrikes on its nuclear facilities, vowing renewed strikes if Iran restarts nuclear work.
Speaking at the Imam Khomeini Hosseiniyeh at his residence in Tehran on Tuesday, Khamenei addressed families of the deceased and government officials.
“The world has now seen the full capability of the Islamic Republic up close,” he said. “These events are not new for us. For 46 years, we have resisted coups, wars, political unrest, and all types of plots.”
Khamenei added that Iran would not abandon its twin foundations of “religion and knowledge” despite mounting international pressure.
“With God’s help, we will continue to take great strides in strengthening our faith and deepening our scientific achievements,” he said. “To the dismay of our enemies, we will elevate Iran to the height of progress and pride.”
Iran’s nuclear program has long been a flashpoint in its relations with the West, with the US and European powers accusing Tehran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies the accusation, saying its nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes.