Authorities vote to allow use of Meta’s instant messaging platform and Google Play as a first step toward reducing internet restrictions.

According to Iranian state media, Iranian authorities have voted to lift a ban on Meta’s instant messaging platforms WhatsApp and Google Play, as a first step toward reducing internet restrictions.

“A positive majority was reached for lifting access restrictions to some popular foreign platforms such as WhatsApp and Google Play,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency said on Tuesday, referring to a meeting on the issue led by President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Pezeshkian, who took office in July, had promised to ease Iran’s long-standing internet restrictions.

“Today the first step towards removing internet restrictions was taken…” IRNA quoted Information and Communications Technology Minister Sattar Hashemi as saying.

It was not immediately clear when the decision would take effect.

Social media platforms have been widely used during anti-government protests in Iran.

In September, the United States called on Big Tech to help circumvent online censorship in countries that heavily censor the internet, including Iran.

The ban had sparked debate in Iran, with critics arguing the controls would prove costly for the country. “The restrictions have caused nothing but trouble and additional costs to people’s lives,” presidential adviser Ali Rabiei said on X.

However, others warned against lifting the curbs.

On Tuesday, the reformist daily Shargh reported that 136 members of Iran’s 290-member parliament sent a letter to the supreme council responsible for protecting the internet, saying the move was a “gift to (Iran’s) enemies.”

Lawmakers called for allowing access to restricted online platforms only “if they are committed to the values ​​of Islamic society and comply with Iran’s laws.”

Iranians have become accustomed over the years to using virtual private networks, or VPNs, to bypass internet restrictions.

Other popular social media platforms, including Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube, remain blocked after being banned in 2009.

Instagram and WhatsApp were added to the list of blocked applications after nationwide protests broke out in September 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini in custody. Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, was arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s dress code for women.

Hundreds of people, including dozens of security forces, were killed in the months-long nationwide protests that followed. Thousands of demonstrators were arrested.