SpaceX has made Starlink satellite internet service free for use in Iran, a move that activists said is designed to help demonstrators share details of protests as the Iranian government attempts to restrict information from crossing the country’s borders.
Activists told The Associated Press that Starlink has been available for free to anyone in Iran with the necessary receivers since Tuesday, and that SpaceX pushed a firmware update intended to help users circumvent government efforts to jam the satellite signals. The report said SpaceX has not officially announced the decision and did not respond to a request for comment.
The move comes after Iran completely shut down telecommunications and internet access to its roughly 85 million people on Jan. 8, according to the AP report. Protests began expanding in the wake of the Islamic Republic’s faltering economy and the collapse of its currency, the report said.
Mehdi Yahyanejad, an Iranian whose nonprofit Net Freedom Pioneers has helped smuggle Starlink units into Iran, told AP that Starlink was crucial. He pointed to video that emerged Sunday showing rows of bodies at a forensic medical center near Tehran and said, “That showed a few hundred bodies on the ground, that came out because of Starlink. … I think that those videos from the center pretty much changed everyone’s understanding of what’s happening because they saw it with their own eyes.”
The AP report said the death toll since protests began Dec. 28 has risen to more than 2,500 people, citing the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. It also reported that Starlink is banned in Iran under telecommunication regulations because the country never authorized importation, sale or use of the devices.
Activists told AP they fear using Starlink could expose people to accusations of helping the U.S. or Israel, and to espionage charges that can carry the death penalty. The report described a cat-and-mouse dynamic as Iranian security services try to identify Starlink users through informers, by searching internet and social media traffic for signs of usage, and through raids, according to reports.
The AP report said the first Starlink units were smuggled into Iran in 2022 during protests over the country’s mandatory headscarf law, after SpaceX obtained an exemption for Starlink from Iran sanctions via the Biden administration. Since then, Ahmad Ahmadian, the executive director of Holistic Resilience, told AP that more than 50,000 units have been sneaked in.
Ahmadian described how users and operators attempt to conceal Starlink use, including using virtual private networks to hide IP addresses and taking other precautions. He also said Starlink’s setup requires an antenna deployed in the open with line of sight to satellites, and he said many Iranians disguise antennas as solar panels. He said Iranian authorities escalated tactics after efforts to shut down communications during a June 12-day war with Israel proved ineffective, adding that the government’s jamming attempts also targeted Starlink radio signals and GPS systems.
According to AP, after Holistic Resilience passed reports to SpaceX about jamming, the company pushed a firmware update described by Ahmadian as aimed at avoiding the effect of jamming. He said there has “always been a cat-and-mouse game,” and that the government is “using every tool in its toolbox,” adding that jamming appears effective only in certain urban areas.
The report said Iran began allowing people to call out internationally via mobile phones on Tuesday, but that calls from outside into Iran remained blocked. It also quoted Ahmadian saying Starlink’s spread makes it impossible to stop communications in the way the government previously tried to do, citing 2019 protests when lesser measures stifled information reaching the rest of the world for more than a week.
Starlink’s reported actions in Iran are also being watched internationally, AP said. The satellite service relies on some 10,000 satellites orbiting Earth, and the report said it has expanded rapidly in recent years, securing licenses in more than 120 countries, including places where journalists and protesters are persecuted.
Julia Voo, who heads the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Cyber Power and Future Conflict Program in Singapore, told AP there is a risk that activists could become reliant on one company and that such dependence creates “a single point of failure.” She said there are currently no comparable alternatives. Voo also warned that as Starlink proves more effective at penetrating government-mandated terrestrial blackouts, more states may watch and respond, and the report said China has been exploring ways to hunt and destroy Starlink satellites.
The AP report said it remains unclear whether Trump’s recent comments about contacting Elon Musk over Starlink for protesters prompted SpaceX to act. It said Trump told reporters on Air Force One he was going to reach out to Musk and that his press secretary later confirmed the call.