Iran Election: Huge Voter Turnout Despite SMS, Web Disruptions
On a day when millions of Iranians went to the polls to vote for president, cell phone users found themselves without the ability to send and receive SMS text messages.
Radio Farda, RFE/RL's Persian Service, confirmed that, at first, text messages from the two reformist presidential candidates were blocked from reaching supporters on Thursday evening.
Eventually, Iran's entire SMS infrastructure went down. As of now, service has not been restored.
An official from Iran's state telecommunications company confirmed the SMS disruption and said, vaguely, that it may have been caused by "other entities" in the government.
Also, in the last few hours, Radio Farda has learned that at least five pro-reformist websites have been blocked. And the headquarters of a pro-reformist Internet TV program has been attacked by an unknown group and has stopped its broadcasts.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
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