Iranians protest to demand justice and highlight the death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by morality police and subsequently died in a hospital in Tehran under suspicious circumstances.
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A bipartisan group of 13 lawmakers urged several US tech CEOs to do more to help Iranian people stay connected to the internet as their government seeks to censor communications amid ongoing protests.
The Iranian regime has taken aggressive measures to block citizens from the internet and anti-government messages as people across the country continue to protest its restrictive standards. The protests began after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died while in the custody of Iran’s so-called morality police, who had accused her of improperly wearing her hijab, an Islamic head covering for women.
In the letter to the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft and cloud services DigitalOcean, the lawmakers asked the executives to be “more proactive” in getting important services to Iran. The Treasury Department last month issued guidance on US sanctions on Iran to make clear that social media platforms, video conferencing and cloud-based services that deliver virtual private networks can operate in Iran.
“While we appreciate some of the steps your companies have taken, we believe your companies can be more proactive in acting pursuant to the broad authorization provided in GLD-2,” the lawmakers wrote, referencing the general license used to issue sanctions guidance.
They specifically pointed to four different types of tools they’d like to see the companies work to get into the hands of the Iranian people: cloud and hosting services, messaging and communication tools, developer and analytics tools and access to app stores.
The lawmakers said these types of tools would help Iranian citizens stay connected to the internet in secure ways amid government-imposed shutdowns and reduce their reliance on domestic infrastructure. The availability of multiple secure communications tools would make it harder for the Iranian regime to shut down all of them at once, they wrote.
The lawmakers also said that giving Iranian people access to developer tools and app stores would allow them to “create and harden” their own communications apps and security tools and give them a place to distribute them without government surveillance.
The letter was led by Reps. Tom Malinowski, DN.J., Claudia Tenney, RN.Y., and Sens. Bob Menendez, DN.J. and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.
“Iranians are fearlessly risking their lives for their fundamental rights and dignity,” they wrote. “Your tools and services may be vital in their efforts to pursue these aspirations, and the United States should continue to make every effort to assist them.”
The companies named in the letter did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
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