The "white internet" scandal exposes regime agents

What he says

An English translation of the talk, which is in Persian. It was made with AI from YouTube's automatic captions and may contain errors; the Persian transcript is authoritative. Click a timestamp to jump to that part of the video.

0:01 Hello. It is Wednesday, 5 Azar 1404, November 26, 2025. A new scandal called "white internet" is perhaps the main topic of discussion these days on social media, in the media and among the people. Here is the story. Since 2009 (1388), Twitter, which was later renamed X, has been filtered in Iran. So anyone who wanted to open an account on this network and use it needed a VPN (filter-breaker). Anyone who has

1:01 used one knows that it actually connects you through a server in another country, usually the United States or various European countries, and some VPNs change their server every few days so that governments cannot block the route to that server. So for people who signed up on X, if they used a VPN, their location should show somewhere other than Iran. But recently X rolled out an update that lets users go to anyone's profile and see when

2:04 they joined and which country they connect from. This is where the trouble began for the regime's agents. Over the past few days, many people looked up various names on Twitter, and it turned out that many of those who support filtering are using the "white," unfiltered internet that the regime provides to them. On the other hand, people who oppose the regime, even with this white internet, have in these very days written articles objecting to it, saying it is a sign of discrimination in the regime, that it is a class-based internet. And now it has been exposed that these very people are also using this same

3:03 white internet. Majlis deputies, many government officials, journalists, and so on are among those who, with the regime's permission, or better to say with the permission of the Ministry of Intelligence, were using unfiltered internet, class-based internet, or white internet. It is said that more than 5,000 people are actually using this unfiltered, free internet. Figures as high as 100,000 have also been mentioned. Interestingly, some other things have also come to light.

3:56 For example, websites or Twitter accounts that, posing as opposition figures, attacked other opponents in an extremely abusive, harsh, foul-mouthed and insulting way turned out to be, as it happens, located in Iran. In fact, they are the very cyber army, and they have unfiltered internet at their disposal to sow discord among the opposition. Or, for example, a user account named Jessica, which had been constantly promoting Scottish independence, turned out to be in Iran, and its registration location again traced back to the regime's apparatus. Of course, it immediately

4:53 deleted the account, but in any case it has been exposed. This last one, of course, has a precedent. In her book about Autocracy, Inc., Ms. Anne Applebaum essentially devotes an entire chapter to this, with various examples of how Russia, China, Iran and the other kleptocratic autocracies that are members of this "corporation" cooperate with one another. They have television networks in various languages, or various accounts on social media, and they amplify one another. One

5:45 says something, the other quotes it; in some country they whip up an atmosphere against someone. In short, their main goals are to protect one another, to attack the opponents of their regimes, and likewise to attack Western democracies and free countries. In any case, this new scandal led a number of people who were found to be using white internet to apologize within the past day or two, saying: "Because we thought we were journalists, they gave it to us; we'll give it back; we don't want it; we don't want discrimination." Some hid behind Starlink and said: "No, because we used Starlink, it shows our location in Iran; we don't have white internet or anything

6:42 given by the Ministry of Intelligence." But some others brazenly still aren't making a sound, even though they especially strike the pose of opponents; yet it has thus become clear that they have secret dealings with the regime. In any case, many different comments have also been made on social media, some of which you may have seen and followed; listing them would take too long. But many citizens rightly brought up that famous line from George Orwell's Animal Farm: "All animals are equal,

7:35 but some are more equal than others." They were saying everyone is supposedly a citizen, but some are more citizens than others, with all sorts of examples and jokes, and about how a hypocritical, thieving and repressive regime gets exposed at critical moments. But a few days ago, a man named Brigadier General Azim Ebrahimpour, head of the "Jihad of Explanation" headquarters, released an 11-minute audio file in which he said that the Ministry of Intelligence had given Khamenei a report on the state of hijab, that he became very angry and

8:30 gave severe and stern orders to the government, to the point that disagreements arose within the government, in cabinet meetings and the like. Someone from the seminary had also poured oil on this fire. In short, the message was that something must be done, that they must go after women again and mobilize forces against them. Today, Mr. Elias Hazrati, head of the Information Council of Mr. Pezeshkian's government, confirmed this Ministry of Intelligence report, though he said the Ministry of Intelligence had reported 11 social "anomalies," one of which is the hijab issue. But setting aside what the Ministry of Intelligence said, what orders Khamenei gave, and what the government and other bodies will do, given

9:30 that these days they are once again doing their calculations, mobilizing forces and taking actions, and it is said they plan to carry out schemes in 11 provinces, the question has been raised again whether Khamenei, seeing the ground beneath his regime weak and shaking, might once again think of launching a campaign against the women and girls of Iran. Will Khamenei really take such a risk? And do the regime's institutions, aside from a few cases of harassment and the like, actually have the power to confront the brave women and girls of Iran or not? In my opinion, no. Against weapons, numbers count in civil resistance: when an act of civil disobedience, such as

10:33 that is, breaking a law, refusing to do something the regime wants people to do, defying and disobeying it, like this very compulsory hijab, grows beyond a certain number, no regime has the power to confront it, although it can cause some harassment. Again they may harass a few people in the street, or want to use facial-recognition cameras, give warnings one, two, three, even freeze bank accounts; they talk about such things. But in the end, as the saying goes, "you only disgrace yourself and trouble us." And a regime that, in providing the most basic needs of the people, their vital needs

11:28 such as air, water, bread, bare subsistence and a simple life, a roof over their heads and a minimum standard of living, cannot provide for the people, and Khamenei, every night and every day, is in a fever of anxiety that the people will soon roll up his scroll. It is not unlikely that he will want to drag things on for a little while longer by creating fear and terror, and, as usual, resort to street campaigns against women. But this trick no longer works; they have tried this method many times and it has failed.

12:25 Meanwhile, the government finally confirmed that from mid-Azar a third rate for gasoline, at 5,000 tomans per liter, is to be announced. From the time this resolution is supposedly to be communicated, in mid-Azar, the Plan and Budget Organization has prepared a complicated and convoluted plan, the gist of which is this: 1,500-toman gasoline, of which each car currently has a quota of 60 liters, will remain, but apparently it is to be reduced to 30 liters. The 3,000-toman gasoline, which currently has a quota of 100 liters, will also remain, but apparently it is to be reduced to 60 liters. And for the rest, consumption above 90 liters or above 160 liters, they will have to pay

13:24 5,000 tomans per liter for gasoline. In addition, all new cars are supposed to use 5,000-toman gasoline from the start. In any case, this patchwork, these things being done, are futile and fruitless. This playing around with subsidies every so often is an evasion of fundamental surgery on the country's economy and of fundamental solutions for the country's economy. And they are doing these things at a moment when people's incomes are shrinking day by day with the collapse of the rial, and inflation is becoming more painful day by day, approaching 50 percent even in the official statistics, and

14:23 the economic situation is getting worse. Naturally, a price increase like this will again affect all goods, and once again the people's hardships and problems will increase. In any case, all of this shows that the regime is incapable of solving the country's problems, especially its economic problems, and that in a kleptocratic system in which corruption has taken hold from head to toe. IQAir today declared Tehran the most polluted city in the world. Hoping for the victory of Iran and Iranians.