Story by Reuters

(Reuters) — Iranian authorities have lifted a ban on Meta’s (META.O) instant messaging platform WhatsApp and Google Play (GOOGL.O) as a first step to scale back internet restrictions, Iranian state media reported on Tuesday.

The Islamic Republic has some of the strictest controls on Internet access in the world, but its blocks on US-based social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are routinely bypassed by tech-savvy Iranians using virtual private networks.

“A positive majority vote has been reached to lift limitations on access to some popular foreign platforms such as WhatsApp and Google Play”, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said on Tuesday, referring to a meeting on the matter headed by President Masoud Pezeshkian.

“Today the first step in removing internet limitations… has been taken,” IRNA cited Iran’s Minister of Information and Communications Technology Sattar Hashemi as saying.

Social media platforms were widely used in anti-government protests in Iran.

In September the United States called on Big Tech to help evade online censorship in countries that heavily sensor the internet, including Iran.

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