Manifesto for a Free Internet

Iranian Women's Coalition for Internet Freedom

Today, people inside Iran are living through a near-total Internet and communications blackout imposed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is not the first shutdown of 2026: on January 8th, authorities cut connectivity during an unprecedented massacre of protesters, and while access had partially, though never fully, recovered in the weeks that followed, a new and near-total shutdown was imposed when direct U.S. and Israeli attacks began on February 28th. As bombardment continues, death tolls rise, and infrastructure is targeted across the country, connectivity has been reduced to a tiny fraction of its normal level, leaving most of the population cut off from the global network.

At a moment when civilians most need information, about bombings, evacuation routes, hospitals, and safety, the networks that connect them to the world have been severed. Families outside Iran cannot reach their loved ones. Phone calls fail, messages are not delivered, and even basic internet services are inaccessible. Journalists, researchers, and relatives abroad are unable to verify whether their friends and families are safe and document what is happening on the ground.

This is not an isolated event. Internet shutdowns have become a recurring feature of governance in Iran. For more than two decades, the state has constructed an extensive system of digital control: websites are filtered, platforms are blocked, and any accessible communication channels are heavily monitored. During protests, elections, and moments of crisis, the authorities have repeatedly shut down the Internet entirely to prevent people from organising, documenting abuses, or communicating with the outside world, often under the pretext of national security. The development of a national intranet has enabled authorities to tightly control connectivity, further expanding surveillance while allowing the state to disconnect the population from the global internet and maintain only limited, state-managed domestic services.

We observe with grave concern that the once-liberatory concept of digital sovereignty –advanced by Indigenous and oppressed communities to protect autonomy and self-determination– is being co-opted to legitimise nationalist and authoritarian visions of the internet. A network designed to be global, open, and resilient is being reframed as something states can fragment, weaponise, and shut down at will. We are alarmed by the misuse of digital sovereignty rhetoric by authoritarian regimes that are building centralised, highly controlled infrastructures capable of disconnecting entire populations from the global internet: instantly, selectively, and repeatedly.

The Iranian Women's Coalition for Internet Freedom is a group advocating for open and safe internet connectivity for the people of Iran- connectivity that is not controlled by the state or subject to selective interference, throttling, or shutdowns. Grounded in the belief that access to the global internet is a fundamental human right, the coalition calls for an open, free, and rights-respecting internet for all, especially those most marginalized.

The coalition is led by Iranian women who speak from the positionality of a group that faces systematic legal, political, and social discrimination. Recognizing that restrictions on internet access disproportionately harm women and other marginalized communities—by limiting their ability to organize, document abuses, access information, and participate in public life—the coalition challenges the Iranian government's power to disconnect, censor, and surveil people and to cut them off from the global internet.

As Iranian women who have experienced some of the most aggressive and violent forms of Internet governance, we assert the following principles:

  • Internet connectivity is a human right.
  • The Internet must be decentralised and globally accessible. Its architecture must prevent any single authority from cutting entire populations off from the world. A basic layer of Internet connectivity protected at the international level and accessible to all people everywhere. Communication must not depend solely on the permission of national governments.
  • We demand the Internet be treated as a global commons, owned collectively and governed accountably to all people, not controlled by a single state or private actor.
  • We envision an Internet that does not exclude, but actively uplifts minorities, marginalised communities, or oppressed groups. The Internet must remain a space where those denied a voice in other institutions can speak safely, organise, and bear witness.
  • People must be able to communicate safely, and access information when states attempt to silence them. Digital infrastructure must be designed so that communities can reconnect and access essential services regardless of government-imposed shutdowns.
  • Internet shutdowns harm the most vulnerable first. We call for shutdowns to be recognised internationally as a severe human rights violation and, when used systematically to silence populations, as a crime against humanity.
  • Satellite Internet governance is Internet governance. While new and emerging technologies including satellite connectivity and direct-to-cell infrastructure offer new possibilities for freedom from state-controlled networks, they also risk replicating the same concentrations of power we are fighting against. We call for the establishment of democratic international governance institutions to oversee and regulate these technologies based on principles of privacy, data protection, and human rights. Organisations such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) must be accountable to the people whose lives depend on digital communication and not only governments. Experts, technologists, activists and civil society must have a meaningful seat at the decision-making table.
  • We reject all forms of mass surveillance, intrusive monitoring, and data exploitation that deny people the freedom to communicate, organise, and live without fear. A globally accessible internet is meaningless without the safety to use it. We reject the weaponization of the Internet. States must not use digital networks, surveillance, or communications systems to identify, track, or target civilians, or to facilitate attacks on civilian infrastructure.

Some will say that a truly free and globally accessible Internet is an impossible dream.

But as women who have experienced censorship, surveillance, and repeated shutdowns in Iran, we know that many freedoms begin as dreams. Our experience has taught us that when voices are silenced, imagining a different future becomes an act of resistance. We consider this initiative as part of Woman, Life, Freedom- an intersectional resistance movement that imagines a life without oppression and fear for all.

If defending a global, open, and resilient Internet makes us dreamers, then we accept that name. Our dream is simple: a world where no government can silence an entire population by turning off the network that connects them to each other and to humanity.

8 March 2026
Iranian Women's Coalition for Internet Freedom

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