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

Iranian authorities have voted to lift bans on Meta messaging platforms WhatsApp and Google Play, state media reported, in a first step toward reducing internet restrictions.

Iran’s official news agency IRNA said on Tuesday that “a majority vote has been reached to lift access restrictions on some popular foreign platforms such as WhatsApp and Google Play,” referring to a meeting on the matter chaired by President Masoud Pezeshkian. Meeting.

Pezeshkian, who took office in July, has promised to ease long-standing tensions with Iran. Internet restrictions.

“Today, the first step towards removing restrictions on the Internet… has been taken,” IRNA quoted Information and Communications Technology Minister Sattar Hashemi as saying.

It’s unclear when the decision will take effect.

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

In September, the United States called on large technology companies to help countries such as Iran that strictly censor the Internet evade online censorship.

The ban has sparked debate in Iran, with critics arguing the controls are proving costly for the country. Ali Rabiei, a presidential adviser, told the X program: “These restrictions will only spark anger and increase people’s cost of living.”

Others, however, warned against lifting restrictions.

On Tuesday, the reformist Shargh daily reported that 136 of the 290 members of Iran’s parliament sent a letter to the Supreme Council responsible for protecting the Internet, saying the move would be “a gift to (Iran’s) enemies.”

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

For years, Iranians have become accustomed to using virtual private networks (VPNs) to bypass internet restrictions.

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

In September 2022, Instagram and WhatsApp were added to the list of blocked apps. Massa Amini detained. Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, was arrested on suspicion of violating the Islamic Republic’s dress code for women.

In the months-long nationwide protests that followed, hundreds of people, including dozens of security personnel, were killed. Thousands of demonstrators were arrested.