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Iranian police block social media dating show over ‘moral damage’

The bans were in response to “complaints from families about social, cultural and moral damage’’ caused by the pages in question.

• February 24, 2025
Iranian police force
Iranian police force

Iranian police have blocked several social media accounts, including that of a well-known blind dating show on Instagram, the Tasnim news agency reported on Monday.

The bans were in response to “complaints from families about social, cultural and moral damage’’ caused by the pages in question, Tasnim quoted a senior police officer as saying.

According to the report, those responsible, 15 people have been detained, summoned or warned.

Among those affected was the popular Iranian Instagram account “vinyvids,’’ which has 1.2 million followers.

The account hosts a YouTube dating show in which two strangers were asked personal questions by a presenter before rating each other.

The format is likely to have met with harsh criticism from conservative Islamic circles in Iran, where Instagram and YouTube are officially banned.

The social media sites can only be accessed in the country using virtual private networks (VPNs).

Young people in Iran are increasingly opposing the influence of clerical politics.

In autumn 2022, nationwide protests broke out under the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom’’ following the death of the young Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.

Since then, many women in the country’s cities have defied the Islamic dress code as a sign of protest and self-determination.

(dpa/NAN)

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