Iran's internet revival unearths videos regime 'didn't want world to witness'

After 88 days of internet blackout, Iranians have logged back online — flooding social media with long-delayed posts, videos and images from the last three months. The first videos to emerge provide new angles on the widespread anti-government protests that erupted between December 2025 and January this year. Authorities in Iran initially imposed a partial internet blackout from January 8 in a crackdown on the protests, then intensified the shut down later in February when the war with the United States and Israel began. This week, after nearly 12 weeks, Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian issued an order to reopen international internet access, saying it was a step toward "free and regulated access to cyberspace". Among the first — and most popular — posts to be shared online have been anti-regime content and videos of protests against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Videos showing people marching in streets, destroying property and, shouting "long live the Shah," and "death to Khamenei" have been going viral as Iranians slowly regain connectivity. "Some people have only just managed to reconnect to the internet, and I think they're only now beginning to upload those videos," said Mandana, a resident of Tehran whose name has been changed for safety reasons, in a voice note sent to the ABC. For some Iranians, it is the first time they have seen the scale of the protests. "Watching the massive crowds that came out on January 8 and 9, honestly, even I didn't realise that so many people had gone out to protest," Mandana said. Tehran-based Sepideh, whose name has also been changed, said it was a way for the regime to control what the world "witnessed". "By shutting down the internet, the Islamic Republic ensured those images could not be seen at the time. It didn't want the world to witness what was happening on the ground," she said. It is a sentiment echoed in many posts online. "They had cut off the internet so the world wouldn't see that in all the main streets of Iran, a sea of honourable and freedom-loving Iranians had taken to the streets in response to the Shah's call to reclaim their country from the occupiers," one person wrote in a post sharing a video of the protests. After the protests, death tolls varied. Some groups, including Iran International, a group of journalists who oppose the regime, reported more than 35,000 people had been killed. While the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it had documented about 7,000 deaths. Some Iranians who spoke to the ABC said seeing these new videos of the scale of the protests gave weight to the higher estimates. "Seeing how huge the crowds were, I'm starting to believe that yes, the regime really massacred 30,000 to 40,000 people in two days," Mandana said. The first reactions, however, were not celebratory, they were a mix of anxiety, anger and scepticism. Data collected by US internet traffic platform Kentik shows usage is not back to levels seen before the previous crackdown. "Even now, the internet they've restored is still extremely slow, and we still have to buy VPNs to use social media," she Mandana said. The cost of a VPN is higher than before the war, another pain point for Iranians battling tough economic conditions as the conflict enters its fourth month. "People are struggling even to afford the most basic necessities of life," Mandana said. "Some people are happy the internet is back because at least now they can finally start their business and earn money again." Sepideh is a content creator and has relied on the internet for her income for the past 20 years. "When the regime shut down the internet, I was ruined, my business came to a standstill," she said. Mandana said she did not feel "any sense of freedom". There are different levels of internet access in Iran, including a local network referred to as the "national internet". This is separate to the network that connects Iranians to the wider world. Dr Ali Mamouri is a research fellow at Deakin University and has worked as a lecturer in Iranian universities and said during the blackout, Iranians were able to access the local network. "They had what they called the national internet, something similar to the Chinese situation," he said. "The government has been working for over a decade to establish all the necessary requirements for independent national internet." Basic facilities like some educational sites and banking services were available, but the speed and access were diminished. "Even when I wanted to search for something, study a subject, or read a few articles, almost every website was blocked," Mandana said. Dr Mamouri said it was possible the restoration of the global network could fail "because some of the government bodies are not agreeing to this decision that was made by the president". For Isfahan-based Amir, whose name has also been changed, he came back online to news of negotiations between the Iranian regime and the United States. "They feel they had been stabbed in the back and that the world was effectively reconciling with the regime," Amir said, adding Iranians had become "deeply disappointed" with America. A stalemate in negotiations has been ongoing, with talks of a deal "being near" floated, once again, by Donald Trump and his administration. The US, Israel and Iran still need to overcome several sticking points before an agreement can be reached, including the regime's nuclear program and freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. But according to Dr Mamouri, the war has given the regime an edge within Iran. "It gave a golden opportunity to the government to revive and to get more support from the nation, because during the war people saw damage to the infrastructure, to the society, killing innocent people, schools," he said. It is a small part of the population according to Dr Mamouri, but a segment that has grown larger, as people "got stuck between two choices". "Having a system running the country is very much better than removing it without any proper alternative, as they saw it in Afghanistan, in Libya, in Syria, in Iraq and so on," he said. As more videos recorded nearly three months ago surface, Sepideh feels "both heartbroken and inspired". "Heartbroken by the loss of so many lives, yet inspired by the courage, dignity, and resilience of the Iranian people," she said.