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11 May 2026, 14:33

⭕️ CNN's report on tiered internet: "Imagine entering the internet with hardship and seeing those who have unrestricted access behaving as if everything is normal."

♦️ In a field report, CNN highlights the internet shutdown and the rise of tiered internet in Iran, stating that the internet blackout has now lasted over two months, marking the longest recorded disruption to date.

For millions whose lives and incomes depend on the internet, this situation has been devastating. Faraz, a 38-year-old resident of Tehran, told CNN: "Imagine struggling with unemployment and insane inflation, and somehow managing to scrape together 500,000 to 1 million tomans just to buy a few gigabytes of VPN to access X or other platforms, see the news, and have a voice."

He added: "Then, in the midst of all this stress and anger, when you finally manage to open X or Telegram, you see those who have unrestricted access behaving as if everything is normal; it really feels like a punch to the chest."

The average monthly salary in Iran is estimated to be between 20 to 35 million tomans. CNN writes that the Pro internet has deepened the vast divide between the rich and the poor.

The website "Khabar Online" reported that this scheme has "divided Iranian society into two distinct classes: digital elites who benefit from fast, unfiltered internet for business, education, and communication, and digital serfs who are trapped in severe restrictions, slow speeds, and high costs of black market VPNs."

The price of black market VPNs has skyrocketed, and according to the "Human Rights Activists in Iran" organization based abroad, the internet shutdown has caused approximately $1.8 billion in damages to Iranians over the past two months; a figure that aligns with estimates from the Iran Chamber of Commerce.

The newspaper Etemad wrote: "The internet shutdown—which itself was a source of income for a large number of virtual businesses—has created a critical and complex situation." Reports from within Iran indicate that "Pro internet" operates through a "whitelist" at the level of telecommunications operators and based on "white SIM cards"; meaning some SIM cards, mobile accounts, or entities are exempt from the country's filtering system.

Unlike VPNs, which bypass censorship by encrypting internet traffic, "Pro internet" apparently routes approved users through paths with fewer restrictions. It is said that holders of white SIM cards still have access to the complete global internet.

According to reports, the cost of Pro internet for an annual 50-gigabyte package is about 2 million tomans, in addition to an activation fee of 2.8 million tomans and about 40,000 tomans for each additional gigabyte. In contrast, regular internet—which is now severely restricted—costs about 8,000 tomans per gigabyte, which has forced many to resort to using VPNs.
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