Iranian protesters’ ability to send information about deadly nationwide demonstrations to the outside world has been significantly strengthened after SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service dropped its fees, allowing wider use inside Iran, activists said on Wednesday.
The move follows Tehran’s complete shutdown of telecommunications and internet access on January 8, as protests spread across the country over economic hardship and the collapse of the national currency.
Although SpaceX has not officially announced the decision, activists told the Associated Press that Starlink service has been available free of charge since Tuesday to anyone in Iran with the necessary equipment.
“Starlink has been crucial,” said Mehdi Yahyanejad, an Iranian activist whose nonprofit group Net Freedom Pioneers has helped smuggle Starlink terminals into the country. He pointed to videos that surfaced showing rows of bodies at a forensic center near Tehran. “Those images came out because of Starlink, and they changed how people understand what is happening,” he said.
Since protests erupted on December 28, more than 2,500 people — mostly demonstrators but also members of the security forces — have been killed, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
Starlink is officially banned in Iran, as authorities have never approved the import or use of the devices. Activists fear users could be accused of espionage or aiding hostile states, charges that can carry the death penalty.
The first Starlink units were smuggled into Iran in 2022 during protests over the mandatory headscarf law, after the US government exempted the service from sanctions. Since then, an estimated 50,000 units have entered the country, often hidden as solar panels or concealed through other means, activists say.
Starlink relies on thousands of low-Earth orbit satellites and requires outdoor antennas, making the devices vulnerable to detection. Iranian authorities have reportedly stepped up efforts to locate and jam Starlink signals, raid homes with satellite equipment and track users through informants and online activity.
“There has always been a cat-and-mouse game,” said Ahmad Ahmadian, executive director of the US-based group Holistic Resilience. He said recent government attempts to disrupt Starlink signals were only partially effective and mainly limited to certain urban areas.
Iran has recently restored outbound international phone calls, but incoming calls from abroad remain blocked.
Activists say the spread of Starlink has made it far harder for authorities to fully isolate the country, unlike during the 2019 protests when information was largely cut off for days. The decision to make the service free could further increase the flow of information from inside Iran.
Starlink has previously been offered free during natural disasters and has played a critical role in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in 2022. However, experts warn that reliance on a single private company for connectivity creates risks.
Julia Voo of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said Starlink’s success in bypassing state-imposed blackouts could prompt governments to seek stronger controls over communication systems. “It creates a single point of failure,” she said, adding that other countries are closely watching how the technology is used in Iran.