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A long-forgotten tweet from Iran's current Minister of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Seyed Sattar Hashemi, demanding the development of a "local GitHub," has come back to haunt him and gained serious traction on social media as renewed internet disruptions heighten tensions.
The tweet, posted in August 2019 when Hashemi served as the Deputy of Technology at the Infrastructure Communications Company, warned against foreign dependency in software development. "Blocked access to GitHub, one of the most important platforms for software development, once again demonstrates the need to create domestic platforms. Open-source platforms support will accelerate Iran's path toward a smart nation," he posted then.
Only two months later, Hashemi was appointed deputy to the then-ICT Minister Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi. His announcement came just days after GitHub, complying with U.S. trade regulations, blocked Iranian and other sanctioned nation developers.
GitHub, having over 100 million developers worldwide today, is the backbone of open-source projects. Its global significance goes beyond version control to a repository treasure trove, community-driven submissions, and integration with prominent development tools. Critics believe that an alternative within a local environment would lack the global ecosystem, relegating it to nothing more than a version control system for local projects rather than a genuine replacement.
The resurfacing of Hashemi’s tweet comes at a time of heightened debate in Iran over digital access inequality and fears that internet disruptions may deepen a tiered system of connectivity.
