In a speech during a seminar organized by Khorasan province seminaries, Mohammad Khorakian, the vice chairman of the cyberspace council, said that “the functions of cyberspace are traps set by the International imperialists for other countries. There is no more need for soldiers or battleships to pillage other countries, these platforms can make it much easier.”

He claimed that the United States dominates the internet through operating systems: “In 2009, there were seven operating systems in the world. Americans chose policies that made Android the most popular among the users. Now 84% of the world’s operating systems are Android.”

He mistakenly called “Viber” and American messenger app. Viper is owned by a Japanese multi-national company.

The most interesting part of his speech was his reference to Telegram. He criticized the fact that the government is not allowed to access users’ information and called Telegram executives audacious: “Telegram has the audacity to encrypt its data and refuse to share this data with the governments, who are the guardians of the culture and religion of societies.”

At the end of his speech, he asked the seminaries to inform people of the dangers of the internet and to publish and provide lessons about virtuous life on the internet.