Iran’s Ministry of Industry’s annual report has revealed a 17% decrease in online purchases and e-commerce transactions over the past Iranian year, ended March 20.

The report, produced by the Center for E-commerce Development, states that since March 2022, the number of transactions has fallen from approximately 3.6 billion to 3 billion transactions, potentially attributed to extensive internet disruptions and outages witnessed across Iran since September.

In June, the Tehran E-commerce Association sounded alarm regarding the "critical state" of internet quality in Iran, identifying the primary obstacle as "widespread and persistent disruptions affecting all IPs and websites."

A separate section of the report, delved into social network and messaging app preferences among e-commerce entities. Instagram emerged as the dominant player, commanding a substantial 55% usage share. However, since September, this popular social network has been banned in Iran.

Telegram, subject to filtering in Iran since 2019, secured the runner-up position with 41% of usage, while WhatsApp, also blocked since 2022, accounted for a 37% share.

This disruption comes in the wake of protests that began last year and are set to rise again on the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death in detention of the morality police.

Furthermore, amidst the backdrop of nationwide protests, a significant "80% of users within the country" have said they have to use VPN or proxy services to access social networks.