Recent protests and general unrest in Iran following the untimely death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini led the government to restrict access to Instagram and WhatsApp on Wednesday. These were two of the last remaining social networks in the country; Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have all been blocked for several years.
Recently, a young woman on TikTok under the username @tytysplanett uploaded a video captioned "We need help. Please let our story and Mahsa's be heard."
She explained, "I can barely text my friends. I have absolutely no internet connection. I don't know where my friends are... I don't know where my family is."
Total isolation
The user reacted on camera to the discovery that her media communication has been disabled, and she cannot easily contact her friends and family. She was visibly upset and crying, entreating viewers to listen and pay attention. She managed to contact one of her friends, who said that "everyone is being killed."
The young woman said that this had happened before and that when it does she always sees that lots of people had been killed once the internet connection returns and she can access news. "I feel like I'm trapped in a small case and there is nothing I can do because I have no voice," she told viewers.
"I feel like I'm trapped in a small case and there is nothing I can do because I have no voice,"
TikTok user @tytysplanett
The user concluded her entreaty, saying "I just want you to know. I just want everyone to know. I have my human rights. I just want them. I don't want anything more."