Iran Launches Own Video Sharing Network to Rival YouTube

Having censored YouTube since 2009 when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was controversially returned to power, Iran has now launched its own version of YouTube. The country say that the content on YouTube is “inappropriate” and so the new website targets the Persian speaking users.

The new video sharing network is called ‘Mehr,’ meaning ‘affection’ in Farsi, also has its own Facebook page dedicated to providing links to its content. The page also provide Iranian music videos.

The country also censors Facebook, Twitter, some blogs as well as most porn sites. The country has also vowed to create “own intranet,” accusing the current internet of being untrustworthy as it is controlled by not more than 2 countries. Iran intends to launch the wall of information by early 2013.

The country’s information network will be second only to North Korea’s ‘Kwangmyong,’ launched in 2002. The Kwangmyong has its own newsgroups, a browser, an email program and a search engine. Direct access to the World wide Web is largely censored, much like China’s ‘Great Firewall.’