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The Blackout was justified from the perspective of the monarchy to silence the main connection of "rebel" forces but when it comes to free speech and the perspective of the people it was wrong, and served as a catalyst for more anger and serve as another injustice in the eyes of the people.

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with this media blackout its getting close to being a dictatorship. Its taking away the peoples way of voice their opinions. I dont think it wasthe right thing to do

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I think the black out wasn't right because they silenced the peaceful protests on social media.

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I believe it was a a unjust act, everyone should know about what is really going on.

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The blackout was a great idea just executed by the wrong people and the wrong time. You shouldn't take away social media just because someone has a different opinion. We all depend on social media in some way. We should be able to express our opinions in some kind of way.

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I think the government felt that the blackout was justified, but I don't think they thought about the repercussions of it. Social media is used as an outlet for people to express their feelings and opinions, sometimes preventing it from happening in real life. Taking that away from people may make the violence and hostility even worse.

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I strongly disagree with the blackout that the Iranian government created because any citizen should have the right to express their opinion whether the country agrees or doesn't. Shutting of social media will literally creates a disaster because people are addicted to social media and taking it from them will cause tension between the citizens and the government. Just like an America we can post whatever we want about Trump and any one we want they Iranian citizens should as well.

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I don't think that the black out was right, and that if they wanted to do something to stop the spread, it wasn't very efficient. i think they did it because they have no one to fight against except the people. In most times, they can pick out one person that symbolizes they entire movement, and eliminate them in hopes that it will kill the movement. if There is no obvious leader, , and they can't silence an entire population, so they believe that social media is what is growing these protests, which hit is.

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i think it was a good idea, the protests were getting out of hand and the people kept going at it when it was no longer necessary since everyone around the world had heard their voice and outrage. they were being cruel to each other, to facilities around them and the government itself. they finally had their rights of social media and all that to have a voice and they went over board

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I think that the blackout wasn't needed and that they are making the situation worse and worse

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i dont think it was a good idea to blackout social media

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I belive the blackout was not a good idea because social media allows people to express and share their thoughts to the world by taking that away they are only asking for more problems and protests.

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Well eventually the situation will get worse and worse, maybe even leading to a overthrown government.

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i think the black out was a bad and good idea, the reason being if 50% of a contries population is using the telegram then it’s gonna inrage people. But also banning it wouldn’t be such a bad idea because maybe would could use so time off of social media and focus on their life.

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I personally believe that the social media blackout wasn’t necessary because it’s unfair to everyone else who uses social media for things such as business, education, etc. since they’re not not disrupting the public and honestly, neither are the people who are protesting peacefully.

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I see the reason behind it, but it was still a poor decision as it would just make the people angrier and add more fuel to the fire

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I don't think the social media blackout was way to deal with this situation because it would only make them more mad causing them to only riot more.

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I believe that the blackout is merely a temporary solution that will create bigger and worse issues .

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I think the black out wasn't the right way to approach the situation.

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I think not allowing a whole country to use social media is unnecessary. The people have a right to express their opinions and such. Social media has some pros. For example, people communicate through social media. This blackout will just create more chaos

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They blocked the use of social media to stop the spread of info but then this caused even more problems causing people to protest.I dont agree with the iranian black out because of how it caused even more problems

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in my opinion i dont think that the block out was a good idea. blocking out all social media in a country isnt going to really help.  it is actually going to cause even more issues and problems because many people use social media to communicate with people.

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i personally don't think that the social media blackout was necessary because basically all you are doing is just limiting a persons voice and it is unfair and it isn't going to help at all either way so whats the point.

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The blackout was just downright unnecessary, the protest was peaceful to begin with, and it was online. If they take down their main sites for PEACEFUL protesting they'll have to resort to other forms like live protesting which is more of a inconvenience in my opinion (and more prone to violence)

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I don't think it was right for the government in Iran to block social media , because they're taking away people's right to voice their opinions and it will cause greater tensions .

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The blackout, in my opinion, is justified for three reasons. One, it will be harder to leak information online as it popularly is. Two, since less people will be permitted to use the media, it will be easier to track whoever is leaking information down. And three, it shows how addicted to technology many people are. When it all blows over, more people will likely understand communicating face-to-face better.

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i think that the social media blackout was a bad idea because it just enrages people more. it takes away peoples ability of freedom of expression. this will just start MORE outrage.

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this just shows how much social media plays a role in a person everyday life... i didnt even know they had instagram in iran

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The social media blackout proves how addicted the human race is to social media, but if its what we love then its a bad thing to do saying that half the country is active on it.

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People express themselves over social media and not allowing the use of social media would of only made the problems they were having bigger and worse. Though at the end of the day, everybody will be entitled to their own opinion, I may not agree with it but they still can have that opinion. It is true that they have different rules than that of the us and that should also be considered when talking about if the blackout was justified.

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I don't think it was a good idea to restrict the usage of social media. It's like putting tape over people's mouths to stop them from doing things together, even though they have other ways to communicate to still have the same outcome. The difference now though is that those people are more angry, leading to an even worse situation if you're the one against them. Think of a teenager for example. If a teacher confiscates their phone, the teen will most likely rebel. Now if you do it with half of the class, you'll of course have a riot.

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I do not agree with the blackout. It doesn't make sense to block all social media in an entire country, this will only result in greater tension.

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Social people will basically say whatever they want. So it makes they blocked social media, but that is going to cause more issues.

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i don't think they should have restricted social media because a lot of people express themselves through social media and it being restricted gets people angry and that could make people do things they shouldn't do.

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peaceful protest online

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The blackout leads to more problems that can't be solved as easily, I see the blackout as an easy way to try to solve the situation, but it only causes more problems.

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I get why they want to block social media for the protesters but I don't think they should have because it had only escalated the problem before.

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I feel like the blackout in Iran have made things worse in the country because this will lead into people getting mad and starting other problems.

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i feel as though it understandable to take social media since there will be a outbreak and conflict but social media is where people make their own oppion and disciss thease topics

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In my opinion, the ban was not justified. I can see why the Iranian president blocked Social Media, but that just stopped people from being able to protest online.

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I feel as if blocking social medias to prevent protesting is not very smart because it is world wide thing used for communication and other things. Blocking that would only make things worse.

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I understand why they want to close social media, but doing so will disconnect a lot of people. I know that taking the socials media outlets down will stop the protest but people should have the right to protest if they needed to. Closing down of social medias also brings down people's thoughts on a matter that they don't agree with which takes away their freedom.

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I could see why they wanted to have a blackout but it was a peaceful protest online. I think an online protest is better than a live protest because more people could get hurt in the live protest than the online one.

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I feel like the government should not have taken social media away . I felt like it was needed , and i compare it to here . If we had our social media taken away from us i feel like everybody would go crazy and everybody would freak out . Which that is exacly what happened in Iran . Social media is in our daily lifes now so you cant just take it away out of now where . So no i dont agree with the ban .

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I can understand why they would want to ban social media because sometimes when people are ranting and complaining and others agree it can cause an outbreak of protesting. However, taking away their freedom of speech by not letting them have a platform to voice their opinion and communicate with others. Banning social media only made them even more outraged and didn't really help bring peace to the country

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Shutting down social media was not called for because honestly that will just start another problem . There is already riots going on in Iran and blacking out social medial will just start another one . The internet is a place where people express their feelings and even if they aren't good that does not mean the whole system should be shut down .

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The bans make sense. It is very hard as a country to be protested about. You try being a leader of a country and everyone hates you and they post all these bad things about you online. You would definitely want the post either removed or if its so many people you can just ban the platform all together problem solved. I would ban snapchat too Iran and facebook and twitter. If you get rid of those you're good to go do whatever you want with the country. Oh and make it illegal to protest because then your feelings wont get hurt. Oh and since you're doing that might as well take away all basic rights and become North Korea. If you read this far you would come to the conclusion that the ban is completely stupid and they have no justification for doing it.

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I understand why they were blocking the social media but that will not fix any of this, in fact it will get even worse because They will still find a way to communicate and will protest violent and not only will this leave a mark on the government, its gonna leave a mark on the people.

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I don´t think that the blackout was justified because people have the right to communicate with others and share their opinions. Social media is a way that people can vent and have other people relate to them and help. While I understand that the government wanted to have the violence and riots stop, it may have just caused the people to riot even more.

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I do not agree with the black out as it will only make more of a riot, plus social media is good for business and it helps people connect and see the news, although it can be bad it would only get worse by shutting it down

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I think it's just wrong and almost going to the point where it's a dictator ship of the Iranian president to close social media apps so that people don't protest. Yes, some money is going to have to go into the riot squads and police to watch, but if you had to go to a point where you restrict a popular app to your citizens, then you're just going to get them even more, to where the people would've reconsidered their vote, if they even got the chance to vote.

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I don't agree with Iran blocking social media because social media is a way for people to be connected with other parts of the world and it is also allows a good way for people to voice their opinions to others. I think that blocking social media is wrong and will cause more problems rather than good.

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I think the blackout wasn't justified . Shutting down social platforms won't make things better. It'll only upset the people more. The platforms are a way of them speaking whats on their mind.

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In my opinion i feel like what the government did was so un-called for. Because shutting down social media creates more problems because that where people vent to verbally. You'd rather it be verbally than physically where it can get to more violent.

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I feel as though the blackout was intended in a way that it did not mean to be. Originally, I'm assuming that the Iranian leaders were planning to just try to get that one forum shut down in order to cause tranquility within the nation. This, in itself, is very controlling as they SHOULD be able to say what they want, but I understand that they were trying to take some heat off of the flame by removing the forum. Overall, this lead to even MORE problems which probably weren't intended. I believe that the government's decisions were a spur of the moment idea, as in "If they can't get information and fury from other people then they'll calm down", THIS I believe is slightly rational. I do, however, believe that the public distaste at the blackout is justified, especially since not ALL of the people using Instagram and Telegram were participating in the protest. If 40% of a population are using that one app, there's most definitely a possibility that majority are on the app, but not that the majority of them go through with their thoughts and act upon them. For sure, not the majority of the people who disagree with the economy are VIOLENT protesters. They shouldn't punish the whole entire country because a group are violently protesting. "but idk lol"

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The restrictions on the two social media in Iran to maintain tranquility  have created two problematic situations in my opinion.  Being influenced by the U.S and other countries doesn't necessarily mean the civilians in Iran aren't protesting for their own rights, these days people are learning to stand up for themselves.  Another problem is that I see in this situation is the more media you cut off in a place where 50% of the population uses it, it will stir up more problems which might lead to violence and disastrous riots leading to something we don't want to see when there's already conflicts.

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I don't think it was right for the government of Iran to block social media, because that takes away the ability for people to voice their opinion, and they can't speak up or say anything when the government makes a questionable decision. Blocking these peaceful protests and opinions these people talk about will just lead to more hostility towards the government. Instead of voicing their opinions on social media, they'll protest in riots and crowds, causing violent and damaging uproars.

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I feel that the Iran government should have no taken away social media. It was a way for people to to protest peacefully online. It was a right to protest. With the govt taking it away. It just ASKING to start a riot. The govt. did not put themselves in the citizens shoes. And acted without seeing the consequences thoroughly.

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in my opinion the black out was not justified . but i see why they did it . but there could have been millions of other ways to do it . some people dont use social media to protest some people use it in a different way .

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I think the Iranian government had good intentions, I understand that they want the violence and "social disorder" to stop but I don't think they went about it the right way. I do not think that taking away social media such as Telegram and Instagram is fair because the people should be able to voice their opinions. The Iranian president even say that the citizens were "completely free to make criticism and even protests" but he is taking away platforms where they can criticize.

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The protest is not justified while the people want to voice themselves through social media telling their feeling and their own opinion, but the government making it to be violence to the people.

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I think the blackout was something that the gov. of Iran thought was gonna be in there favor. The people wanted to voice there opinion in an act of protest with led to all the violence and chaos. Bu they should be able to voice there opinion because it's happening in there country. Social media was the outlet they used but there outlet was taken due to fear of the powerful outlet.

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In my opinion I don't believe  that the Iranian gov. should have blocked access to Telegram and Instagram. The president himself said that citizens are "completely free to make criticism and even protests", but if people don't have access to social media, it would be much more difficult to plan the location and time of protests. In addition, since over 50% of Iranians use Telegram, blocking access would also block a majority of the nation's opinions. I feel that the government's actions are contradicting their words.

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In my opinion, the blackout was not necessary. Iranians are voicing out their opinions and concerns they have for the  economic hardships they are facing. A BBC investigation reported that many Iranians have become 15% poorer in the past 10 years and that's a pretty good reason to pour out protests. Blocking out social media isn't going to help stop people from causing "social disorders". In fact, the action is making it worse because now, the people that weren't even involved in the protests are going to take part because they didn't do anything yet they are being punished.

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The action of the Iran government blocking social media and certain channels because they weren't taken down wasn't necessary,but the fact that the Iranians caused major issues because it was taken away made me think about how social media causes issues with or without.The fact that they couldn't live with out it and made a big deal out of it being blocked was stupid to but it simply,but reading more and looking at how the government blocked it because it was causing issues or wasn't approved by the government was stupid aswell.

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The reasons they protested is always the same.But You don't take away of communication because that will make things worse for the  government that is trying to make things the way they used to be.It will only make them  them feel that what their doing is correct.Also what will happen if they manage to get what they want, the government will be in trouble to the future.

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What the government did was very unnecessary and they're taking away peoples right when they shouldn't have. People use the media to share their ideas post pics and etc. but the government is shutting it down as if it's the people have a different intentions behind the use of media when it's just a place where people share their thoughts.

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The blackout was truly unequitable, Taking away social media where people can talk about different social upcomings is basically shutting down everyone's own opinion. Just because they were spreading news about the protest on social media doesn't  mean they should shut down every platform that THEY DONT OWN. Its very unfair and very upsetting that it's come to the government shutting down  social media. I don't see whats the big deal about this protest that their goverm=nment has to hide from the rest of the world. they are taking away their freedom of speech, and them shutting out the social media will just make things worse. This will just make people more mad that they are not being heard from.

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I feel as though the blackout was intended to be for a good reason but it ended up being the opposite. I understand that Iran is trying to control the violence that may be a result in these organized protests, however, that shouldn't stop people from voicing their concerns with their government's decisions. Even though Iran's laws and the U.S's laws are different, Iranians should still be able to take up the opportunity to speak out about issues that they feel passionate about.

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I believe the protest was justified but I also think the blackout was justified too. The government was intending to calm down the protesters, not completely stop them. They recognized their right to peacefully protest, but not involve violent acts into their protests. However, the protesters were justified too. I believe most protesters meant well, and were protesting something they didn't personally agree with, but there were also violent protesters who took a different approach, and this is what the Iranian government was trying to stop.

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I feel like the protest itself was justified and I can see why the people would be angry, but then I can see why the government would do that, I'm not saying it's right but I can see why they did it. I feel as though the blackout wasn't justified and I think that by doing the blackout it silenced the voices that were meant to be heard and for others to hear it.

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The protest itself was justified but not the ban of Telegram. Telegram is a social media platform that people can express their opinion freely. Although some harsh things could be said, it's just words and that's a lot more safe than having a physical protest. The government banning the app just makes the people more hostile and even angrier because they feel that their voice is being taken away. Banning the app did not solve any of their protest problems which is why I think the blackout was unjustified.

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I dont think the government was justified to blackout anything period major or not because as Americans we have different right and problems of how to solve conflict here in which, Iranians are taking a difficult pattern on how to solve the problem which is leading people to try to get revenge or dissatisfaction toward the government  turmoil is between both sides which is allowing to much violence so the government should give them back to see the better side of it which is making them look bad right now the world is already going through enough so just to add this is unsuitable

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I feel that the blackout on the social media wasn't justified. People should be able to at least be able to say what they are thinking and not have any restrictions. I do understand that the government was probably thinking that if they take away the peoples voice on social media it would stop the violent protest. But because they took away a major way for people to express their opinion i feel like it would only make the people want to retaliate even more for taking away a right that belongs to them. How the government handled the situation just only
a bigger problem

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I don't think that the blackout was justified. Although the government had the right to do it, it wasn't necessary because the Iranians should have the right to show whatever they want and it's just gonna make people even angrier

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The blackout wasn't justified, because social media is a place to voice your opinion freely. I understand that Iran doesn't have the same laws and values as the U.S., but in a country like Iran (where you can't freely state your opinion) you shouldn't be able to take away the one outlet they can voice their opinion on. I do however feel that the protesters shouldn't use violence, but sometimes that's all you can use to get the governments attention.

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The blackout was rationalized, however only partially. I can see how both sides feel. The government could feel as though the protest could cause a very violent uproar and they could try to prevent the violence while they still could. However on the other side of things the civilians just wanted their ways of communication back due to their personal reasons, and i do believe they did have the right to protest peacefully as long as the intent is non-malicious. Although a key factor is that Iranians don't have all the rights that we do so sometimes we do tend to forget that the world is a harsh place, so protesting for their social media platforms could turn out to be a bad result for them. In this type of government the protest could not be justified in most ways according to their law. I feel as though we need the full story and more info so that we can truly see what was right and what wrong.

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I feel as though this social media blackout in Iran was justified partially. The fact that violence occurred during (and after?) the protests and the fact that social media had helped to organize these protests justifies it. However, the people of Iran have the right to peacefully protest their government, so long as they don't cause "social disorder," so banning these social media networks is kind of taking the Iranian peoples' right to protest and their right to have and/or use social media away from them, which does not justify the ban.

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The blackout was unnecesarry since the protests were valid. There were facts that the economy was worsening and the government's blackout just increased the resentment that were already taking root.

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I dont think that the blackout was justified. Though the government can do it it was an unfair thing to do. People are able to feel the way they feel and shutting down the social media wont change their opinion.

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People having different views on some certain stuff isn't a reason to shut down the telegram.And it's just going to make the Iranians even more mad

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The blackout wasn't justified because people should be able to post their point of view on subjects. Just because they see something differently doesn't mean you should take the internet away.

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I don't believe that the blackout was justified. People having different views on things that are going on does not mean to shut down the platforms they share those thoughts on. Social media is how they get their thoughts out. Getting rid of social media is not going to get them to stop thinking in that way.

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In my opinion the government shouldn't have shut down the social media platforms. People have different perspectives based on the political reasoning. Which some people share their opinion through social media.

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i dont think the blackout was justified because, the government shoudnt have those rights to take something so simple from their people and should give them that freedom on the internet at least.

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You should be able to have internet freedom. Banning social media is a bad way to control people.

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Iranians do not have the same rights as American citizens. Their country is a theocracy which means there is a religious ruler who is the president's main advisor. Theocracies tend to be very harsh and severe. Where does social media fit into this scenario?

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The government has power and I don't think that power was put to good use by the blackout of social media. Does the freedom of speech apply here? If yes, then the opinions on social media should not have been restricted therefore the blackout was not justified.

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I don´t think that the government should be taking there use of social media because if that is hat they give there opinion and post something about how they feel they should be able to do that because they have freedom of speech just because they want to protest something the government dose not have to go and be so harsh about what they are protesting towards  even though the president did say that they have the right to protest without disorder what did he think a protest was going to do be calm he should have known it was going to get out hand but shutting down there social media is wrong he should have known it would get out of hand.

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no the Iranian blackout was not justified. i don't think there was any good reason to shut off the app telegram especially when so many people used it. on the other had the people had no right to react the way they did. if they wanted to protest they should have done it peacefully so their voices would have been heard.

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The blackout is not justified, just because some people have different views in politics and decide to share them on social media doesn't mean that all of social media should just shut down.While i understand that they don't have the same rights as Americans do, i don't think it's fair for the government to take social media away, it could seem like an answer to them right now but the people will find other ways to protest whether it is through social media or not.

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I believe that though the government has the power, they shouldn´t have shut everything down. As Americans we have many rights that other countries do not. Iranians don´t have the same rights as Americans. Their government is simply doing what they think is best for their country. Though it may seem unjustified to us, it may not be the same for their government. The Iranian government took action to prevent what they may be afraid of: citizens taking over their country and the loss of control the government will have.

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The blackout was not justified. I believe it was unnecessary to do it because many people will turn to social media to talk about their own views in politics. People can have their own freedom on the internet, and the government should not take that away. The government could have handled this situation in a better way than to just shut down social media for everyone.

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I don't think the blackout was justified. Just because social media was used to protest against the government, does not mean that everyone using it is protesting. I think that the government could've handled it in a better way, rather than punishing everyone for something a group of people did. Maybe disable the accounts of the users that protested (?). I don't really know what else they could do, but it's better than getting rid of the social media for everyone.

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I don't think that the government was justified to blackout two major platforms for social media. Although they might not have the same rights as Americans, by the government initiating a temporary ban on some social media platforms it makes them look bad to the rest of the world. Also by the government reacting like this it will probably lead to more resentment among the people and lead to more resentment. The people will also most likely find another way to organize protests since they seem very persistent about the issues going on

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Even though the government may have the power to do such things, I don't think it's justified for them to shut down social media. Maybe it's just me saying this because we have different rights, but I still think it's not justified that they can shut it all down. Sure there was some violence that had sprung up amidst the protesting, but some of these protesters were protesting peacefully overall. Instead of taking social media down, they could have taken the account down instead. There could even be more protesting for social media to be given back, and then it'll be even more chaotic.

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I don't believe the government should be shutting down social media platforms. Though some may use social media as a way to rally people up or incite violence, they are for the most part, the minority. Hassan Rouhani said it himself, that they are allowed to protest, but not incite disorder. All they're doing is silencing the majority who probably for the most part don't want the situation to escalate into the point where someone may get hurt, whilst using the minority, and blowing their actions out of proportion as justification

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I don't believe that the government should be shutting down social media. Just because the Iranians have a different view on it than the government doesn't mean they should just shut it down. In might be that the Iranians don have freedoms like we do but that doesn't mean they cant share what they think abut their government with others online.