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X’s New Location Feature Exposes Iran’s ‘VIP Internet’ for Regime Insiders

08:14 PM, 12/04/2025
X’s New Location Feature Exposes Iran’s ‘VIP Internet’ for Regime Insiders

Elon Musk’s X added a location feature that unintentionally revealed a privileged internet tier inside Iran used by government officials and pro-regime accounts. These insiders appear to use special white SIM cards to bypass national filtering, while ordinary citizens must rely on VPNs and risk severe penalties, including prison or execution, for critical posts. The exposure has been called “digital apartheid” and has embarrassed officials who previously denied special access.

X Location Feature Lifts Curtain On Privileged Internet Access In Iran

Elon Musk’s X recently added a location indicator intended to help spot fake accounts. Instead, the update has revealed that many government officials, state media figures and pro-regime operatives have been accessing the banned platform from inside Iran using so-called white SIM cards that bypass national filtering.

Ordinary Iranians, by contrast, must rely on VPNs to reach blocked services. A VPN masks a user’s true location by routing traffic through a foreign server, so X shows the VPN server’s country rather than the person’s actual location. Those who are detected posting content deemed critical by the authorities can face severe penalties, reportedly including prison terms of up to 10 years or even execution in extreme cases.

Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani, a member of Iran’s national security commission, criticised the arrangement, saying many benefit financially from internet filtering because it sustains a lucrative VPN market controlled by a “mafia.”

Several high-profile accounts were identified as operating from inside Iran, including Communications Minister Sattar Hashemi, former Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani, and numerous journalists at state-aligned outlets. Also exposed were political operatives, official eulogists and some pages that had presented themselves as opposition voices but appear to operate with tacit government approval.

Critics have described the disparity as a form of “digital apartheid,” arguing it creates unequal access to public rights and runs counter to the constitution’s guarantee of equality. Several Iranians quoted called the system discriminatory and questioned how officials who use white SIMs can understand the harms of filtering or be motivated to remove it.

Mahdi Tabatabaei, a communications deputy, said that creating distinct classes of internet users plays into the hands of the regime's enemies, while President Masoud Pezeshkian has been quoted as saying that “all 90 million Iranians are white.”

Analysts say privileged access helps the clerical establishment manage which opposition narratives gain traction online, and the X revelation has proved politically embarrassing for officials who publicly denied having special access. Journalist Yashar Soltani compared the situation to George Orwell’s Animal Farm, warning that rationed freedom becomes structural discrimination.

Other widely banned platforms in Iran include Facebook, YouTube and Telegram. The X update has sparked renewed debate about internet filtering, accountability for officials, and the risks ordinary users face when trying to communicate online.

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