TEHRAN – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday announced the development of domestic messaging applications, saying it is intended to monopoly in social media.

“Domestic messaging applications and software should not be developed to restrict access (to cyberspace), but should be developed to end monopoly in messaging apps,” Rouhani said during a Norouz meeting with his ministers, provincial governors and heads of executive bodies.

It is a source of honor to develop “Iranian messaging apps” which are “safe and cheap” and meet the people’s needs.

The president said his administration attaches great importance to training people to use the cyberspace optimally.

“A good cyberspace can be achieved through producing good, interesting and useful content and not restriction or monopoly,” he noted.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, chairman of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said on Sunday that Telegram messaging app poses threats against national security.

“Certain countries restricted access to Telegram because of security threats and built their own domestic and national messaging apps. We [Iran], as a notable country should be active in this respect,” the MP said.

He added, “Even a country like South Korea has built its own national network. So, we should act in a way that enemies will not be able to infiltrate and cause problems.”

Hamideh Zarabadi, a parliamentarian, said on March 17 that access to Telegram will most probably become restricted in the current Iranian calendar year, which started on March 21.

However she said this strategy will prove “ineffective” and said the government and the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology are expected to announce their stance in this respect transparently.

Abolhassan Firouzabadi, the secretary of the Supreme Cyberspace Council, has said that it is essential to build a domestic messaging app.

“Given various problems caused by Telegram messaging app, we, in the Supreme Cyberspace Council, came to the conclusion that we should definitely have a local messaging app,” Tasnim quoted him as saying on Tuesday.

NA/PA