War, Internet Shutdowns and Instagram: Why Online Sales Need a Website and Channels You Own

Iran went through two near-nationwide international internet shutdowns in 2026. The first began on 8 January 2026 during the protests; monitors such as NetBlocks measured connectivity at a few percent of normal, and from late January most users could reach only a list of pre-approved sites.

The second began on 28 February 2026, when the war started with US and Israeli strikes. Connectivity fell again to roughly 1 to 4 percent of normal. A ceasefire was announced on 8 April, but the shutdown continued. Reports say international access was partly restored after about 88 days, following the president's order in late May; even so, Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp and YouTube stayed blocked and speeds were reported as slow and unstable.

This article is not about politics or judging the war. Its aim is to look from a business owner's side at what broke and what can be done. The latest reliable reports we reviewed date from late May and June 2026; follow live status from sources such as NetBlocks.

Instagram has been filtered in Iran since 2022, and many sellers and customers reached it through VPNs. When international connectivity was cut as well, that fragile route closed. It was not only that the page would not load; several dependencies failed at the same time:

The figures come from different sources at different times and are mostly estimates rather than audited statistics, so we name who said each one. In January the communications minister put the daily cost of the shutdown at about 35.7 million dollars. NetBlocks estimated the total at about 1.8 billion dollars by mid-April. A Chamber of Commerce member put the daily cost at 30 to 40 million dollars, roughly double with indirect effects. The minister has also said about 10 million people have jobs that depend on connectivity.

Even large players were hit: according to the Associated Press, Digikala cut about 200 staff, close to 3 percent of its workforce. If a major retailer is under that pressure, a small page whose whole business is one Instagram account is more exposed still.

On Instagram you do not own your followers; the platform owns the relationship and can change rules, algorithm or access. When access is cut entirely, that storefront is gone. A business's real assets are a domain registered in your name, a website that holds product and order information, and a list of customers who gave you their number with their consent.

This does not mean abandoning Instagram. It is still useful for being seen and building trust. The difference is to treat it as the front door and move sales and the customer relationship to a place you control.

In international shutdowns, services that run on domestic infrastructure generally stay reachable for users inside the country, which is why domestic services were what many people could still reach. This is not guaranteed: after partial restoration it was reported that many domestic services and apps were also slow or unstable, and some data centres were not fully back. So the goal is not absolute shutdown-proofing; it is reducing failure.

One technical point most sites overlook: foreign dependencies. If your site loads fonts from a foreign server, includes a foreign analytics or chat script, or uses a foreign CDN or captcha, then when international connectivity is cut the page becomes slow or half-loaded. A site built for customers inside the country should serve everything, from fonts and images to the order form, from the same domestic server.

A website is only one part. So that losing one channel does not cut your link to customers, keep several routes side by side: SMS and phone calls, which normally do not depend on international internet (although mobile calls were disrupted too in January), domestic messengers such as Bale, Eitaa and Rubika for people who use them, and your own customer list. Not every customer uses the domestic messengers, but having them together creates an emergency path.

Domestic marketplaces can also complement your own site, but they charge commission and keep the customer under their name. If you use them, try to bring customers to your site and list as well.

You do not need to build everything overnight. This order gives the most effect for the least cost:

A domestic site is not magic. Domestic hosting can also slow down or fail, domestic rules on content and data apply to it, and customers abroad may have trouble reaching it. There have also been reports of tiered, more expensive access for some users, which could split your customers into groups. That is why the goal is layers, not reliance on a single route.

Be careful with customer data too: keep only what you need, limit access, and do not use numbers for promotional messages without the customer's permission. This is not legal advice, and rules can change.

The 2026 lesson for Instagram-based businesses is simple: when everything depends on one platform, a single shutdown is enough to take sales to zero. Keep Instagram, but move sales, the customer list and the customer relationship onto assets you own.

This article is a general analysis and is not legal, financial or security advice. If you want a light sales website without foreign dependencies, or a review of your current setup, the Sosho Studio team can help with design, build and choosing where to host. Tell us your goal through the contact section.