Iran’s internet blackout silences voices at home as diaspora creators fill the void

How streamer Mahyar Tousi built a massive audience covering Iran, Israel, and the Middle East

When Mahyar Tousi left Iran at age 14 in 2003, he had no idea that he would one day become one of YouTube’s most prominent Middle East news streamers, with more than 1.5 million subscribers. In an interview with Unpacked, conducted before the current attack on Iran, Tousi said he first built an audience through his support of Brexit before a new wave of viewers found his channel through his coverage of the October 7 attacks. As the situation in …

Iran’s internet blackout silences voices at home

NEW YORK — Iranian American Ariana Afshar has tried to produce commentary about the first weeks of the war in the Middle East based on the perspectives of people in Iran.

Iran's internet blackout silences voices at home as diaspora creators fill the void

Iranian American Ariana Afshar has tried to produce commentary about the first weeks of the war in the Middle East based on the perspectives of people in Iran. But the New York-based social media creator keeps running into an obstacle: An internet blackout imposed by the government in Tehran has stifled almost all communications from the country. That makes it nearly impossible to reliably survey perspectives on the escalating conflict from insi…

Iran Blackout Silences Voices, Diaspora Fills Gap

Iranian American creators Afshar and Moezidis bear the emotional weight of representing fearful Iranians facing government retaliation.

Iran’s internet blackout silences voices at home as diaspora creators fill the void

Iranian American social media creators are helping lead the online conversation about the war in Iran.

Iran's internet blackout enters day 18

: Civilians relying on Dutch shortwave radio broadcast for outside information