Report: Iranian Court Wants Instagram Blocked

A semiofficial news agency in Iran is reporting that a court is ordering that the photo-sharing app Instagram be blocked in the Islamic Republic over privacy concerns.

The Mehr news agency said Friday that the court order had been given to Iran's Ministry of Telecommunications to ban the site over a lawsuit. Users in Tehran still could access the application around noon Friday.

Social websites such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook have already been blocked by censors, though many young and Web-savvy Iranians use proxy servers or other workarounds to bypass the controls.

The move comes as there's even an Instagram account in the name of moderate President Hassan Rouhani.

Officials at Instagram Inc., which is owned by Facebook, could not be immediately reached for comment.

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