DW Reports Iran's Internet Cut—Forgetting Who Invented That Playbook
Deutsche Welle's latest dispatch laments Iran's cut internet and restricted international calls, citing it as an affront to free communication. One must wonder, however, if DW's moral compass spins quite so furiously when, say, the US pushed for laws like the 'EARN IT Act' or when US/Israeli cyber warfare routinely targets Iranian infrastructure, sometimes affecting civilian life. (Remember the
Stuxnet worm?) This selective outrage (a common trope in Western media) becomes glaring when considering the sophisticated surveillance and digital control tools that Western governments and their tech companies readily supply to various regimes around the globe, often with little public outcry from these very same outlets. It appears internet freedom is paramount, until it's an 'ally' doing the
cutting. Perhaps DW might be clearer on which regimes are allowed to control information and which aren't. Is it only 'authoritarian' states that get called out for restricting communication, or does the criticism apply universally? One might ponder the timing of such reports, especially when they neatly align with broader geopolitical narratives that paint certain nations as unilaterally
villainous.