How smuggled Starlink receivers and customized software let some Iranians evade a near-total internet blackout as the regime brutally cracked down on protesters
Tehran went from ‘halal internet’ to near-total blackout but activists have smuggled in Starlink devices to get information out
Financial Times
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the continuation of a workaround already visible in 2022, when activists were smuggling Starlink receivers for backup connectivity. The new reporting shows that hardware access paired with tailored software can preserve a channel even when Tehran reduces ordinary connectivity to a minimum.
Iranians who can obtain smuggled receivers and use the customized software retain a route to transmit information while conventional domestic access is largely unavailable.
Tehran's blackout becomes less comprehensive for the subset of users connected through satellite service, while the scarcity and clandestine distribution of terminals become immediate constraints.
Second-order effects
Activists and support groups have greater incentive to organize around terminal supply, software configuration, and decentralized communications tools rather than rely on a single domestic network path.
Authorities seeking to enforce an information shutdown face a more distributed enforcement problem: disrupting local networks alone does not remove externally provided connectivity.
Third-order effects
If this pattern persists, internet shutdowns increasingly become contests over hardware distribution and service access, not solely control of national telecom infrastructure.
The durable shift is toward layered resilience—satellite links, messaging tools, and VPNs—although physical terminal availability remains a potential bottleneck.
The trend: Satellite connectivity is becoming a practical complement to software-based circumvention tools in efforts to resist state-controlled internet shutdowns.
Free Starlink from SpaceX a critical part of getting information on Iran government murders out into the public... ...and not a peep from the Dems about how amazing it is a homegrown American company in SpaceX is helping the Iranian people free themselves from evil leaders.
“In a sense Iran's firewall is the inverse of China's great firewall...In Iran, the government has essentially blacklisted the entire internet and is experimenting with “white listing” some essential services to keep its sputtering economy functional.” https://www.ft.com/...
Fascinating FT report about the Iranian government's efforts to limit or block internet access - and how activists try to circumvent restrictions. https://www.ft.com/... via @ft
Pejoratively nicknamed the “halal internet” by some Iranians, it was a cruder version of China's “great firewall”. Its goal was simple: at times of upheaval, it would allow the government to cut off ordinary Iranians from the world, and potentially from each other, while allowin…