
Mahsa is a DPhil student at the OII. Her research focuses on political communication and information controls in Iran.
Mahsa Alimardani
DPhil Student
Profile
Mahsa Alimardani is a student on the DPhil in Information, Communication & the Social Sciences.
Mahsa is an Internet researcher focusing on freedom of expression and access to information online in Iran. Her research aims to understands communications ecologies within Iran’s information control space. Mahsa has worked on digital rights on Iran since 2012, in various capacities within civil society. She does research on freedom of expression online in the MENA region with the human rights organisation ARTICLE19. Mahsa is also a Senior Information Control Fellow with the Open Technology Institute, and a Graduate Resident of the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights.
Research Interests:
Telegram; Social media; social movements; information controls; censorship; surveillance; MENA; Iran; digital activism.
Supervisors at the OII
Journal articles
- (2020) "Online Temptations: COVID-19 and Religious Misinformation in the MENA Region", Social Media + Society. 6 (3) 205630512094825.
- (2020) Iranian Media: Centralised Control and Tattered Accountability.
- (2020) "Trust, Religion, and Politics: Coronavirus Misinformation in Iran", SSRN Electronic Journal.
- (2017) "The Internet as a Global/Local Site of Contestation: The Case of Iran", GLOBAL CULTURES OF CONTESTATION: MOBILITY, SUSTAINABILITY, AESTHETICS & CONNECTIVITY. 171-192.
Blog
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Black Heroes of the Internet – Emna Mizouni
12 October 2020
Authors: Mahsa Alimardani, Mona Elswah
As two scholars who’ve spent a lot of time studying and within the MENA region, we’re proud to know Emna Mizouni. She’s long been ...
Read More Black Heroes of the Internet – Emna Mizouni -
How the rise of Religious Misinformation is contributing to the Covid-19 infodemic
5 August 2020
Authors: Mona Elswah, Mahsa Alimardani
How the rise of Religious Misinformation is contributing to the Covid-19 infodemic By Masha Alimardani, Doctoral Candidate, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford and ...
Read More How the rise of Religious Misinformation is contributing to the Covid-19 infodemic -
Understanding Online Misinformation in Iran, the Epicentre of Coronavirus in the Middle East
24 June 2020
Authors: Mahsa Alimardani, Mona Elswah
We are delighted to have contributed with a new chapter to Meedan’s 2020 Misinfodemic Report: COVID-19 in Emerging Economies. The chapter focuses on misinformation ...
Read More Understanding Online Misinformation in Iran, the Epicentre of Coronavirus in the Middle East
Press
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Will Twitter ban Iran’s supreme leader next?
2 February 2021 The Washington Post
On an average day, Twitter accounts linked to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, share his official statements and commentary with hundreds of thousands of followers on the U.S. social network.
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Iran blocks Signal messaging app after WhatsApp exodus
26 January 2021 Al Jazeera
Tehran, Iran – Iran’s government has moved to block Signal after Iranians flocked to the messaging platform following privacy concerns from Facebook-owned WhatsApp.
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Telegram Still Hasn’t Removed an AI Bot That’s Abusing Women
18 November 2020 Wired
A deepfake bot has been generating explicit, non-consensual images on the platform. The researchers who found it say their warnings have been ignored.
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Iran Suspends Death Sentences of Antigovernment Protesters, Executes Alleged CIA Spy
20 July 2020 The Wall Street Journal
Tehran bowed to intense pressure on the nation’s social media to spare participants in November demonstrations.
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How the founder of the Telegram messaging app stood up to the Kremlin — and won
28 June 2020 The Washington Post
Telegram founder Pavel Durov used cyber-dodging tactics and the messaging app’s reach to outmanoeuvre Russia’s state telecommunications regulator.
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Why is the Iranian regime wary of Instagram?
23 June 2020 Deutsche Welle
Iranian authorities are reportedly mulling a ban on Instagram, a popular social media platform in the Islamic country. DW analyzes why the hardline Shiite regime continues to feel threatened by the power of the internet.
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Data Breach Shows Iranians Use Chat Apps to Spy, Researchers Say
17 April 2020 BNN Bloomberg
Last month, Bob Diachenko came across an unsecured server storing information on 42 million messaging accounts.
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‘A cyberattack should be expected’: U.S. strike on Iranian leader sparks fears of major digital disruption
3 January 2020 Washington Post
Iran’s cyber troops long have been among the world’s most capable and aggressive, disrupting banking, hacking oil companies, even trying to take control of a dam from afar, while typically stopping short of the most crippling possible actions, say experts
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Offline and silenced: Internet blackouts are going global
14 December 2019 Al Jazeera
From Kashmir to Iran, governments are turning off the internet to stop dissent. Plus, the murky world of deepfakes.
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Bullets and blackout: inside four days of killing in Iran
13 December 2019 The Telegraph
Pouya Bakhtiari could barely contain his excitement as he sat in gridlocked traffic on the motorway between Tehran and his home city of Karaj.
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Iran net outage first to effectively isolate a whole nation
21 November 2019 Associated Press
Internet connectivity is trickling back in Iran after the government shut down access to the rest of the world for more than four days in response to unrest apparently triggered by a gasoline price hike.
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The Ayatollah Comes for the Internet
19 November 2019 New York Times
The almost complete shutdown imposed over the weekend sets a new oppressive benchmark.
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Iranian dissident arrested and Telegram channel seized by revolutionary guard
18 October 2019 Sky News
The arrest of a high-profile dissident and the seizure of his anti-government Telegram channel is a 'PR coup' for the regime.
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Iran regime invites people to turn in neighbours for ‘moral crimes’ via text message
12 June 2019 The Independent
Iran is to launch a text-messaging service to allow self-appointed guardians of morality in Tehran to turn in their neighbours or strangers for violating murky codes of public conduct, officials have said.
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Oslo Freedom Forum podcast
12 June 2019 What Bitcoin did
Latest panel debate from the OFF discussing the effects of the currency crisis on the Iranian internet and the effects of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin on internet access and use.
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Iran Encourages Citizens to Spy on Each Other and Report Moral Code Violations Via Text Message
11 June 2019 Newsweek
Iran’s government is urging its citizens to use text messages to report on their neighbours or on strangers if they believe they are guilty of violating the country’s code of conduct.
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Slack Bans Iranian Academic Living in Canada Because of Sanctions
20 December 2018 Motherboard
An Iranian academic says Slack banned him from the communication platform due to US sanctions. But the academic does not live in Iran; he’s in Canada.
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Magna Carta for the web: Chips with Everything podcast
9 November 2018 The Guardian
Jordan Erica Webber chats to the Iranian internet researcher Mahsa Alimardani about what we should be doing to rebuild trust in the internet.
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When governments censor websites and block messaging apps like Telegram, here’s where to turn for proof
11 May 2018 CBC
Data collected by watchdog Open Observatory of Network Interference is helping hold governments to account.
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Days after Russian clampdown, Iran signals that a ban of Telegram is imminent
18 April 2018 The Verge
Khamenei made the announcement on his Telegram channel
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Iran’s Internet Crackdown
14 January 2018 BBC Click
Iran internet crackdown; commentary by Mahsa Alimardani.
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Iran Protests: Government Took Control of Internet to Silence Dissent, Report Says
10 January 2018 Newsweek
Iranian authorities shut down social media channels and disrupted internet access as protests against the government spread across the country over the past two weeks.
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Why Iran’s government is cracking down on Instagram and Telegram
9 January 2018 Vice
Iranians hit the streets again today — on the sixth day of volatile protests that have quickly spread across the country.
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This App Is Helping Iranians Beat Tehran’s Internet Censorship
9 January 2018 Vice Motherboard
Psiphon, a Toronto-born app, has seen a 1,650% increase in downloads.
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The ‘revolution’ will not be Telegrammed
8 January 2018 Wikitribune
Iran blocked the popular messaging app Telegram, which many Iranians use to communicate, during ongoing nationwide protests.
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Social media plays ‘extremely important’ role in Iranian protests despite censorship
4 January 2018 CBC
Telegram is the platform of choice but protesters turn to backdoor software and private networks
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‘When it gets to this level of crisis, everything is scary’: an Iranian protester speaks
3 January 2018 CBC: The Current
Images of the unrest in Iran have spread across the world in recent days, but what does it feel like to actually be there, in the chaos and violence on the streets?
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Iran’s leader: enemies to blame for violence
2 January 2018 CBC: The National
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Iran's enemies are to blame for the violence that has taken over the country.
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Pro-government demonstrators take to streets in Iran
2 January 2018 Channel 4
Across Iran, thousands of people have been on the streets of major cities again today.
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Iran Is Blocking the Internet to Shut Down Protests
1 January 2018 Vice Motherboard
Reports say mobile services like Telegram have been shut down as protests continue across the country.
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What Telegram Owes Iranians
1 January 2018 Politico Magazine
Never in history has a protest movement depended so much on one technological platform. Will the company use its power wisely?
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Tightening the Net in Iran
27 December 2017 media.ccc.de
The Situation of Censorship and Surveillance in Iran, and What Should Be Done