Twitter eludes censorship attempts in Iran | Breaking Tweets

Twitter eludes censorship attempts in Iran

Posted by Craig Kanalley on 6/19/09 • Categorized as Elections, Mideast

The Iranian government has tried repeatedly to stop tweets flowing from Iran, and repeatedly it has failed.

Even though the Twitter Web site has been blocked, the service is available through dozens of other applications and sites, due to the use of its API system. Thus, it has become a “new infrastructure of unstoppable freedom of speech,” per Jeff Jarvis of “BuzzMachine.”

Breaking Tweets has been monitoring developments of the Iran election since the beginning. A live blog was updated throughout Election Night, posting Iranian tweets until the official announcement that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won.

Here are some trends seen on Twitter since that night one week ago:

  • #IranElection has remained a Top 10 Trending Topic on Twitter throughout the last seven days
  • Most Twitter users confirmed to be in Iran have since changed their profiles to private or changed their names for their safety
  • Twitter users around the world are not retweeting user names as they typically do, but using “RT from Iran” to protect the Tweeters’ safety; Breaking Tweets has also done this
  • Twitter users around the world have been changing their location to “Tehran, Iran” in support to confuse Iranian censors; this has made it difficult to tell which tweets are really from Tehran
  • Several accounts have popped up that promote spam and spread false information; it is becoming very difficult to find credible tweets from Iran unless you know which accounts are credible

It is becoming harder to tell what is coming from Iran itself, but one thing is clear. Despite attempts by the Iranian government to downplay this story and keep it away from Twitter, the story remains. And Iranians are still tweeting, just more and more privately, anonymously and under newly-made accounts.

Here are some of the most recent tweets from Iran related to this:

RT from Iran: #IranElection Even if a ballot is silenced, the voice behind it cannot be.
RT from Iran: i speak out because i can speak and people listen to me but these are the dreams of everyone in my country
RT from Iran: my daughter future..our future..our hopes,dreams are on this twitter for the world to share

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  • It would be good if you could periodically tweet from 'official' Tweeter a link here so everyone can be encouraged that legit twits FROM Iran are really getting through. It would encourage those inside and outside Iran.

    I stayed up almost all night and back up in 2 hours so excited to be part of the cutting edge of global communication and defiance of crack-down dictatorships. Thanks Twitter!

    Joseph
  • ckanal
    You're right. It's happening. Will try to tweet about this again later.

    It surely is cutting edge in global communication, as you say. Tweets flowing from all over the world, it is really something to see.

    Thanks for the comment.
  • J Newt
    I dont care what you call it or is for them or against!
    All I see is human beings asking peacefully what there goverment takes from them by force and life!
    I am proud to call them friend them friend!
    You cannot help to see a hope where there is none!
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