Iran is losing approximately $1.56 million every hour due to a state-imposed internet blackout, significantly impacting its economy and daily life for over 90 million citizens, according to an analyst.
Iran is facing an economic crisis exacerbated by a state-imposed internet blackout, which is costing the country an estimated $1.56 million every hour. This disruption is draining the already struggling economy and affecting the daily lives of more than 90 million people.
According to Simon Migliano, head of research at PrivacyCo, the prolonged internet disruptions began during widespread protests in January. Despite some restoration of connectivity, the economic losses continue. “The current blackout is costing Iran an estimated $37.4 million per day, or $1.56 million every hour,” Migliano stated. He further noted that the full internet blackout has already cost Iran more than $780 million, with ongoing strict filtering contributing to additional economic impacts.
Migliano’s estimates were derived using the NetBlocks COST tool, an economic model that measures the immediate effects on a nation’s gross domestic product when its digital economy is forced offline. This model evaluates direct losses to productivity, online transactions, and remote work, utilizing data from reputable sources such as the World Bank and the International Telecommunication Union.
Since the beginning of 2025, Iran has reportedly lost $215 million due to disruptions in internet access, according to Migliano. The Iranian authorities cut off communications on January 8 amid escalating protests against the clerical regime. While officials have since restored much of the country’s domestic bandwidth, as well as local and international phone calls and SMS messaging, the population remains largely unable to access the internet freely due to heavy state filtering.
The demand for virtual private networks (VPNs) has surged by 579%, reflecting a desperate attempt by citizens to navigate the heavily censored online environment. “The recent surge in VPN demand reflects a scramble for digital survival,” Migliano explained. He noted that even when internet access is briefly restored, it remains heavily censored and effectively unusable without the use of circumvention tools like VPNs.
“We can see spikes showing that as soon as connectivity returned, users immediately sought VPNs to reach sites and services outside the state-controlled network, including global platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram that remain otherwise inaccessible,” Migliano added.
Moreover, sustained demand for VPNs has averaged 427% above normal levels, indicating that Iranians are stockpiling these tools in anticipation of further blackouts. “The usual strategy is to download as many free tools as possible and cycle between them. It becomes a cat-and-mouse game, as the government blocks individual VPN servers and providers rotate IP addresses to stay ahead of the censors,” he remarked.
Iran’s Minister of Information and Communications Technology, Sattar Hashemi, has acknowledged the economic toll of the blackout tactics. He stated that recent outages have inflicted losses of roughly “5,000 billion rials” a day on the digital economy, with nearly 50 trillion rials impacting the wider economy.
Although Iran’s three-week internet blackout may have been lifted, connectivity remains severely disrupted. “Access is still heavily filtered. It is restricted to a government-approved ‘whitelist’ of sites and apps, and the connection itself remains highly unstable throughout the day,” Migliano concluded.
These developments highlight the ongoing struggle of the Iranian populace as they navigate an increasingly restricted digital landscape, which is further complicating their economic situation.
According to Fox News Digital, the implications of these internet restrictions extend beyond mere connectivity issues, affecting the broader economic landscape of the nation.