NetBlocks, an internet monitoring and data analysis website, announced that more than 200 hours after the nationwide and complete internet shutdown in Iran, user connectivity has increased only very slightly. The overall level of access remains at around 2% of normal conditions.
According to NetBlocks, an internet monitoring and data analysis website, user connectivity to the network has increased only marginally after more than 200 hours of a nationwide and complete internet shutdown in Iran.
⚠️ Update: Metrics show a very slight rise in internet connectivity in #Iran this morning after the 200 hour mark. However, overall connectivity remains at ~2% of ordinary levels and there is no indication of a significant return. pic.twitter.com/evVey3NMjp
— NetBlocks (@netblocks) January 17, 2026
At the same time, the overall level of access is still reported to be around 2% of normal conditions, and it has been stated that there are no signs of the internet returning to a normal state.
According to experts, the reported increase in access is limited and applies only to a small portion of government infrastructure and specific networks; therefore, general public access to the internet remains largely impossible.
At the start of the third day of the nationwide internet shutdown, NetBlocks had announced that leaders of the Iranian regime continued to publish their own narrative of events online, while the switch they control silences the voices of 90 million Iranians.
According to NetBlocks, this digital blackout violates citizens’ fundamental rights and freedoms, and such a nationwide shutdown not only blocks access to information but also conceals the regime’s violence from the eyes of the world and reduces the ability to document events.
The nationwide internet shutdown, along with severe restrictions on telephone communications, including mobile and landline phones, occurred at a time when, according to human rights organizations, thousands of people in various cities were killed by regime forces during the popular protests in Dey.
There is still no precise figure for those killed in the protests in Iran, but the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran has put the number at more than 3,000 people. The internet shutdown has kept the scale of the catastrophe shrouded in ambiguity.
With one-way phone connections from Iran, information is being relayed in a very limited manner to families abroad. Nevertheless, there are also limited methods for making phone calls from outside the country into Iran.
Some figures estimate the number of those killed at 12,000 people, while others assess it to be far higher. However, the lack of independent access to sources inside the country has eliminated the possibility of accurately verifying the number of those killed and detained.
Iran’s regime cut off the internet nationwide starting on January 8, coinciding with the expansion of protests, in an effort to intensify repression. It is said that widespread images of the bodies of those killed and reports from the protests during these days were published only through a small number of users who had access to Starlink.
Human Rights Watch: Growing Evidence of Mass Killings of Protesters in Iran
Challenges facing Starlink during the Iran protests
Despite reports that some users in Iran have gained access to Starlink satellite internet and that it has been offered free of charge to people during the protests, it appears that internet connectivity via Starlink is also facing many difficulties.
According to a report by Reuters, Iran’s regime is now using jammers and fake GPS signals to disrupt Starlink transmissions.
The report adds that the repression of opponents in Iran is becoming one of the toughest security tests to date for Elon Musk’s Starlink.
This is while, according to the news agency, since its deployment during the war in Ukraine, Starlink has functioned as a vital lifeline against government-imposed internet shutdowns.
Reuters notes that SpaceX, the company that owns Starlink, made this satellite service free for Iranians following the nationwide uprising, an action that places Elon Musk’s space company at the center of another geopolitical flashpoint.
The report adds that a team of engineers based in the United States is now confronting regime measures involving satellite jammers and signal spoofing tactics.
Some experts say that agents of the Iranian regime in Tehran and other cities are using scanner equipment to detect Wi-Fi signals in order to identify Starlink sources in urban areas.
Network security specialists recommend that users who are connected to the internet via Starlink pay close attention to necessary security guidelines and adjust settings in a way that minimizes the risk of identification.
