When Sanctions Silence Iranian Voices: How Digital Exclusion Is Hurting Ordinary Iranians
In recent weeks, many Iranian YouTubers have experienced a sudden and severe collapse in advertising revenue.
In recent weeks, many Iranian YouTubers have experienced a sudden and severe collapse in advertising revenue. The cause appears to be improved detection of VPN use and viewer location by YouTube, which now more accurately classifies large portions of Persian-language audiences as being inside Iran. For creators whose work depends on those viewers, income has dropped dramatically—sometimes overnight. What may sound like a technical adjustment is, in reality, a human story with serious political and social consequences.
Most Iranian YouTubers are not celebrities or political actors. They are teachers, engineers, journalists, artists, translators, and technologists—members of Iran’s educated middle class who turned to global digital platforms because traditional economic pathways were closed to them. For many, YouTube was not a luxury; it was one of the few remaining ways to earn a modest living, share knowledge, and stay connected to the outside world. As physical trade, travel, and financial access were restricted, digital platforms became a fragile but vital bridge to the global economy. That bridge is now weakening.
As we explained in an earlier report for Iran Unfiltered, the rise of Persian-language YouTube channels and online talk shows over the past decade created a new Iranian public sphere—one that bypassed both state television and foreign broadcasters and allowed Iranians themselves to shape debate, share expertise, and engage in civic discussion. That transformation helped weaken the state’s narrative monopoly and gave millions of Iranians significantly more access to independent information and participatory media.
Over the past decade, these Persian-language channels have played an essential role in Iranian society. They provided educational content, technical skills, cultural programming, and independent analysis that state-controlled media could not or would not offer. These programs helped millions of Iranians learn new skills, stay informed, and engage with global conversations. Monetization made this ecosystem sustainable. Even limited advertising revenue allowed creators to justify the time, effort, and personal risk involved in producing content under censorship. Crucially, this income was tied to merit and audience trust rather than political loyalty.
That model is now breaking down. As YouTube reclassifies VPN-masked traffic as originating from Iran, advertising revenue tied to those views has collapsed. In some cases, ads are no longer served at all. The result is a sudden economic shock for creators who did nothing wrong and relied on VPNs only because censorship leaves them no other option. This change effectively excludes many Iranian creators from the global digital marketplace.
The role that U.S. sanctions may be playing in this development is unclear. The web of sanctions on Iran is nearly all-encompassing, impacting the entire Iranian economy. On one level, an embargo on Iran prevents U.S. entities from engaging in commercial transactions with individuals based in Iran. However, there are limited exceptions in the form of “general licenses.” General License D-2 authorizes U.S. companies to offer certain services, hardware and software necessary for various forms of internet-based communication, and also authorizes some limited fund transfers in service of permissible transactions. However, many private companies have typically interpreted the guidance conservatively, with concerns about the remaining myriad sanctions and hefty fines for violation taking precedent over an apparent green light from the U.S. government to more fully offer their products and services in Iran.
While policymakers defend sanctions as a measure against the Iranian government, their effect has largely been felt by those outside of power. One result has been the steady narrowing of spaces for ordinary Iranians to participate in the world economy. Iranian citizens are largely shut out of international banking, payment platforms, and digital marketplaces. They cannot easily sell products abroad, freelance globally, or monetize online work. For Iran’s middle class—especially younger, educated, and globally-minded Iranians—digital platforms have been among the last remaining economic outlets.
Now those outlets are once again being restricted. The people most affected are not elites or insiders but the very segments of society most associated with civic engagement, pluralism, and democratic values. Women creators, independent educators, journalists, and young professionals are losing one of the few spaces where talent and effort could still translate into opportunity. Punishing these groups does not weaken authoritarian control. It weakens civil society.
The consequences extend beyond economics. When creators can no longer sustain their work, content production slows or stops. Educational channels disappear. Independent perspectives fade. Audiences lose access to practical skills, scientific knowledge, and alternative viewpoints. Over time, this erodes the information environment and leaves more space for state media and disinformation. Younger generations lose opportunities to learn and connect with the world. The long-term damage to social openness and democratic capacity is significant.
If U.S. policy aims to support the Iranian people and encourage access to information, outcomes like this represent a serious contradiction. Policies that effectively penalize VPN use—when VPNs are a necessity under censorship—end up punishing the wrong people. When sanctions and platform enforcement intersect in ways that exclude ordinary Iranians from lawful economic activity, the result is deeper isolation, not accountability.
Iranian YouTubers are more than content creators. They are educators, connectors, and bridges between Iran and the world. When those bridges are dismantled, Iranian society becomes more isolated, less informed, and more vulnerable to authoritarian control. Policies that silence independent voices and shrink economic opportunity do not advance justice. They entrench isolation and punish the very people most aligned with democratic values. If the goal is to stand with the Iranian people, the world must ensure they are not locked out of the global digital economy—especially when they are simply trying to participate in it.