Googling Dick Cheney In Tehran

In the wake of Iran’s ban on Facebook, Telmah Parsa explains the mysterious logic behind the regime’s censorship games. (And why is The Daily Beast among the sites blocked in Iran? We’re still not entirely sure—but perhaps it has something to do with this video we published in January: Iran’s Hottest Porn Video.)

Iran made international headlines yet again last weekend, but for a change it was not a missile test or a bombastic statement from President Ahmadinejad: It was the government’s decision to block Facebook. So great was the international coverage and outcry that the regime quickly reversed course and unblocked Facebook on Tuesday.

On the one hand, the move to unblock the site is a welcome sign that the regime may be more susceptible to outside pressure than previously thought. On the other hand, this was not the first time the social-networking site was blocked. In fact, Facebook was still in the process of recovering members from the last “blocking season” when it got shut down again this past weekend.

The government’s censorship, with all its paradoxes and oddities, is a microcosm of Iranian society’s schizophrenic character.

Unlike previous times, though, the reasons for banning Facebook were clearly explained. With the June 12 presidential election looming, Facebook has become an ideal place for the reformist candidates, especially former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, to expand the reach of their presidential campaigns. At least in the virtual world, social-networking sites have proven quite inhospitable for the hardliner incumbent Ahmadinejad. “I bet I can find 1,000,000 people who dislike Mahmoud Ahmadinejad!” is the name of one Facebook group, whose number of members, mostly Iranians, already exceeds 43,000.

Yet when queried by a CNN reporter about the ban, Ahmadinejad denied any involvement. On the underground news-sharing site Balatarin.com (visited by tens of thousands of young Iranians via proxy servers), one user posted a sarcastic comment in response to the CNN report: “He’s right. My aunt has already accepted responsibility.”

The sudden ban and subsequent about-face on Facebook reflects the regime’s seemingly bipolar mania when it comes to online censorship. On a whim, or out of extreme fear of a bad word, entire sites disappear down the virtual-memory hole.

For instance, if you google “Dick Cheney” from a computer located in Iran, you will encounter a bright yellow triangle with an exclamation mark.

The Farsi text beneath reads: “According to the Islamic Republic’s laws and the judiciary’s order, access to this site is denied.”

Why the fear of Dick Cheney? Does it have anything to do with Iran’s dislike of right-wing hawks? Are all GOP members blacklisted? Are they trying to hide some truth about the former vice president?