Past

Service blocking

Telegram

Government of Iraq banned Telegram, an instant messaging service, on Iraq networks from the 5 August 2023. The Ministry of Telecommunication in the country issued a statement that upper authorities connected to national security mandated blocking access to the service. The blocking is apparent on all Iraqi networks except AS206206 – Kurdistan Net Company for Computer and Internet Ltd. On August 14, the government stated that they have reached an agreement where the company complied to the government requests, Telegram access to the service was restored as a result.

  • Total Duration 10 days

Flag of Iraq Iraq

Population
46,042,015

Freedom House rates Internet freedom as Partly Free

View full country profile for Iraq

Local impact

Government of Iraq banned Telegram, an instant messaging service, on Iraq networks from the 5 August 2023. The Ministry of Telecommunication in the country issued a statement that upper authorities connected to national security mandated blocking access to the service. The blocking is apparent on all Iraqi networks except AS206206 – Kurdistan Net Company for Computer and Internet Ltd. On August 14, the government stated that they have reached an agreement where the company complied to the government requests, Telegram access to the service was restored as a result.

Related documentation

Official statement:https://moc.gov.iq/?article=454Translation: The Ministry of Communications draws the attention of users of the Internet in Iraq, that the blocking of the (Telegram) application came based on the directives of higher authorities for determinants related to national security, in order to preserve the personal data of citizens, with which the aforementioned application violated the integrity of handling, in violation of the law. The relevant state institutions have repeatedly asked the company concerned with managing the aforementioned application to cooperate in closing channels that leak data of official state institutions and the personal data of citizens, which poses a threat to Iraqi national security and societal peace, but the company did not respond and did not act on any of these requests. The Ministry of Communications affirms its respect for citizens' rights to freedom of expression and communication, without prejudice to the security of the state and its institutions, and expresses its confidence in citizens' understanding of this measure.

Other supporting information

Government of Iraq banned Telegram, an instant messaging service, on Iraq networks from the 5th of August 2023. The Ministry of Telecommunication in the country issued a statement that upper authorities connected to national security mandated blocking access to the service. The blocking was measured through OONI, as seen in the chart below. The blocking is apparent on all Iraqi networks except AS206206 – Kurdistan Net Company for Computer and Internet Ltd. On August 14th, the government stated that they have reached an agreement where the company complied to the government requests, Telegram access to the service was restored as a result.

https://explorer.ooni.org/chart/mat?probe_cc=IQ&since=2023-08-01&until=2023-08-15&time_grain=day&axis_x=measurement_start_day&test_name=telegram

Sources on the ground informed Pulse that citizens and official channels continued to publish on Telegram after the blocking through Virtual Private Networks (VPN), which indicates that the blocking is ineffective and poses individuals to security risks of running untrustworthy VPNs. The official Iraqi News Agency published on Telegram that they are moving to Viber instead of Telegram following higher national security orders, but the Ministry of Finance kept publishing on Telegram as per the screenshots below, taken on 9 August.

Screenshot from @mofiraq, the official Telegram channel of the Iraqi Ministry of Finance indicating news published on 9 August.
Screenshot from @inainaiq, the official Telegram channel of the Iraqi News Agency stating that they are stopping publishing on Telegram and moving to Viber. The statement is from 5 August.

Social media

Shutdown history

  • 47 shutdowns in the last 12 months
  • 160 shutdowns since 2018
  • 12,036 shutdown hours since 2018

View as a list

Related news

Reuters: Iraq blocks Telegram app, cites personal data violations.