January 10, 2026
Blackout with a megaphone
Iran's internet shutdown is chillingly precise and may last some time
90% offline, leaders still posting — is this blackout built to last
TLDR: Iran cut 90% of internet traffic and kept officials online through a fine‑tuned blackout that could last. Commenters clash: some see a cover for killings, others tout Starlink or DIY fixes, while skeptics call out Western agendas and certainty without facts—why it matters: control of information is power.
This isn’t your usual blackout—it’s a surgical strike. With 90% of Iran’s internet gone and mobile service dead, experts say the shutdown is precise enough to keep officials online while everyone else goes dark. Cue the comment-section inferno: outrage, DIY rebellion, and heavy skepticism.
The fiercest claim: one commenter alleges the blackout is deliberate “cover for coordinating massacres,” linking a sobering Time report. Others want fixes, not takes: a guerrilla wifi fantasy using battery packs and cheap gear turned into the thread’s folk-hero plan—“internet-in-a-backpack,” minus the how-to. Then came the Elon energy. One user insists “Starlink is up” in Iran via an X post; experts and locals counter it’s being jammed, neighborhood by neighborhood. The memes practically wrote themselves: “Starlink vs Star-jam.”
Irony watch: while citizens are cut off, Iran’s leader keeps posting on X, firing off more updates than a startup CEO. Commenters joked the only bars anyone sees are on his signal. And the geopolitics crowd chimed in: some blame post‑9/11 strongmen; others accuse Western cheerleaders of wanting privatized oil more than democracy. Verdict: rage, hope, and distrust—simultaneously.
Key Points
- •Iran has imposed a nationwide, selective internet shutdown for at least 36 hours, with about 90% of traffic dropping and mobile/international calling disrupted.
- •Experts say the blackout is unprecedented in precision and severity, allowing whitelisted government and institutional access while blocking most users.
- •Ayatollah Ali Khamenei continued posting on X, and some government Telegram channels appeared active, indicating selective connectivity.
- •Starlink, which aided Iranians during 2022 protests, is reportedly being jammed with impact varying by neighborhood.
- •Iran has been developing more precise censorship tools and an internal network model similar to China’s; other countries (India, Russia) are also refining state-controlled digital platforms.