Iran polticizes social network tools

Hoder, who blogs in English and Persian at Editor: Myself says Orkut and Yahoo Messenger have become political footballs in Iran (Orkut, a hot political issue in Iran):

In no other country but Iran you'll hear politicians use "Orkut" and "Yahoo Messenger" in their sentences.

Nasser Nassiri, a radical MP last week called for a ban on Orkut and Yahoo Messenger, both extremely popular among Iranians, and suggested the parliament will start work on a bill to officially ban them. As always, the reason was to destroy the ethical foundations of the society.

Now another radical but connected MP, Emad Afroogh, who is the chair of the cultural committee of the parliament, has officially denied that they are going to ban Orkut and Yahoo Messenger.

However, people's comments have it that the Iranian Telecom has already filtered Orkut. OpenNet initiative guys have confirmed it in an email to me.

What a lovely dysfunctional and chaotic country Iran has become.