Iran’s Supreme Cyber ​​Council, the Islamic Republic’s internet and cyber regulatory body, voted today to lift a two-plus-year ban on messaging app WhatsApp.

“The banning of WhatsApp and Google Play was unanimously voted on by members of the Supreme Cyberspace Council,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported.

“It is the first stage of the plan aimed at lifting the restrictions,” IRNA said.

Communications Minister Sattar Hashemi hailed a “first step towards lifting restrictions on the Internet by consent” in a post on Platform X.

Iran has blocked Instagram and WhatsApp following protests that began in 2022 over the death in custody of Mahsha Amini – the young woman who had been arrested for violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code. These apps were used more after Youtube, Facebook, Telegram, Twitter and Tiktok were banned.

The bans have sparked controversy in Iran, with critics arguing they are costly to the country.

“Restrictions have brought nothing but anger and additional costs to citizens,” presidential adviser Ali Rabiei said today in a post on Platform X. “President Massoud Pezeskian believes in lifting restrictions and does not consider the bans to be the interest of the people and the country,” said Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s vice president for strategic affairs.

Others, however, have expressed reservations about lifting the restrictions.

The reformist newspaper Shargh reported today that 136 MPs out of the 290-member parliament had written to the Council to denounce the measure as a “gift to the enemies” of Iran.

According to the newspaper, the MPs called for access to restricted online platforms to be allowed only “if they respect the values ​​of Islamic society and Iran’s laws”.

President Massoud Pezeskian, who took office in July, pledged during his campaign to loosen restrictions on Internet use that have been in place for years.

In March, an Iranian minister announced that the government would allow international platforms to work in the country if they agreed to open offices representing them there.

Meta, the American giant that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, responded that it has no intention of setting up in Iran, a country subject to a regime of severe sanctions by the United States.

Faced with internet restrictions, many Iranians have started using virtual private networks (VPNs) to bypass the restrictions.

Other popular platforms such as Facebook, X and YouTube have remained blocked since 2009, and instant messaging app Telegram was banned by court order in April 2018.

In an effort to replace foreign platforms, Iran has developed its own apps over the years.