Last but not least: Facebook under control

With the help of the special software, the Iranian authorities want to introduce restricted and controlled access to internet platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. "Intelligent control of social networks is better than a complete ban," the country's police chief, Esmail Ahmadi Moghadam, told the daily newspaper 7sobh on Sunday, according to SDA. With such software, the disadvantages of the networks could be avoided and the advantages used, he explained. According to SDA, something else could indicate plans for the selective use of Facebook: An apparently official page of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had appeared on Facebook in mid-November.

Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are subject to state censorship in Iran, as are many other websites. Facebook and Twitter played a major role in organizing the protests against the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2009. Since then, a specially established internet police force has been monitoring blogs critical of the government. Several bloggers have been imprisoned in recent years as a result of this control.

According to the SDA, just under half of the Islamic Republic's 75 million inhabitants use the internet. And many circumvent censorship by using illegally traded software that enables free access to the internet or by using encrypted systems such as VPNs.

So if the authorities' control software does not work or is circumvented, the government can still train half of the population as social network spies to monitor the other half on social networks. Because "intelligent control is better than complete blocking".