Last December, a handful of Iranians in the fashion industry were prosecuted for posting pictures on social networking sites such as Instagram, which officials argued promoted “Western culture.” ![]() It isn’t unusual for state authorities to target individuals for online dissent. “If the collects Telegram usernames, they can pass it to that ‘bot’ and create a map of who is following any type of Telegram channels,” Rashidi said. Their presence is leading some to censor their speech or stay out of political channels altogether, according to Amir Rashidi, an Internet security researcher at the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran. There’s concern the bots could allow authorities to identify - and potentially prosecute - users for the channels they follow. In addition, applicants are required to add an automated bot to their Telegram channel as a co-administrator. As of January, around 700 Telegram channel administrators have sought permits, according to Iran’s Tasnim News agency. But in December, the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, Iran’s main agency tasked with Internet policy, established laws ordering the operators of Telegram channels inside the country with more than 5,000 followers to obtain a permit from Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance by the end of February or face prosecution. Those who run channels have had a level of anonymity on the service. ![]() It offers messaging and group chat features with the option of encrypted communication and popular channels, where the users who create them can share ideas, articles, pictures and videos with followers. Founded by brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov three years ago as a messaging service with a focus on privacy, Telegram has grown to 100 million monthly active users.
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