US blocks SSL security certificates for Iran's Fars News Agency
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Washington has blocked the issuance of SSL security certificates for Fars News Agency's website, cutting the country's most visited news outlet off from browser-trusted encryption, the agency revealed on 17 July.Without valid certificates, visitors to the site face security warnings and restricted access, while the agency's content has been removed from Google search results.Technical assessments confirm that all major internationally recognized Certificate Authorities \u2013 including Let's Encrypt, DigiCert, and Sectigo \u2013 have rejected certificate requests for the agency's domains, citing US sanctions pressure.The measure is the latest in a series of US actions against the outlet. The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control seized the agency's .com domain in 2020, and in September 2023 added Fars and its CEO to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) sanctions list. The EU and Canada have since imposed sanctions of their own.Fars has faced repeated efforts to restrict its reach, including the removal of its Instagram account, which had nearly three million followers. Iran's Computer Emergency Response and Coordination Center (MAHER) says the agency has been the primary target of sustained cyberattacks aimed at disrupting the country's domestic media infrastructure.The block forms part of a broader western campaign to dominate the media narrative against its geopolitical adversaries by suppressing opposing voices while artificially amplifying its own. Western governments are simultaneously dismantling online anonymity at home through identity verification laws that, under the pretext of child protection, tie every post to a legal identity \u2013 backed by biometric verification requirements, VPN restrictions, and the scanning of private messages. \u2018That is soviet levels of censorship.\u2019Lord Young criticises Labour\u2019s Deputy Leader, Lucy Powell, over plans to impose restrictions on social media, warning of the US\u2019s response to online censorship.\ud83d\udcfa Freeview 236, Sky 512, Virgin 604 pic.twitter.com\/CHdoVD8jPJ— GB News (@GBNEWS) July 6, 2026 The measures tighten control over expression both abroad and within their own borders, amid ongoing crackdowns on pro-Palestine and pro-Iran speech. An investigation by TIME revealed that Israel has been paying $1.5 million per month to Clock Tower X, a firm owned by US President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Brad Parscale, to run a covert influence campaign targeting young US conservatives through paid influencer networks, coordinated messaging in private group chats, and websites designed to shape how AI chatbots characterize Israel. US officials now believe the operation turned against Trump himself, as paid influencers attacked the now broken ceasefire with Iran. In May, Israel allocated roughly $730 million to its 2026 Hasbara propaganda budget, more than four times the previous year's allocation, even as polling shows 60 percent of US respondents now view Israel unfavorably, with experts dismissing the spending as unable to offset the impact of its genocide in Gaza. The Cradle analyst Mohamad Hasan Sweidan previously detailed how Israel operates a \u201cDigital Iron Dome,\u201d a system combining mass reporting campaigns to take down content exposing its crimes in Gaza, algorithmic ad warfare that floods timelines with state propaganda, and hundreds of millions of dollars in influencer contracts and AI-targeted campaigns to manipulate global perceptions. ","image_caption":"(Photo credit: FNA)"}}],"blob":{"id":89661,"url":"https:\/\/thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com\/public\/articles\/3ccfdc9c-81d8-11f1-a1c6-00163e02c055.webp","type":"file","size":99757,"ext":"","name":"3ccfdc9c-81d8-11f1-a1c6-00163e02c055.webp","directory":"articles","sort_number":0,"alt_text":null,"image_caption":null,"created_at":"2026-07-17 15:08:35","updated_at":"2026-07-17 15:08:35"},"mobile_blob":null,"debates":[]}"<br>:most-popular-articles="[{"id":38977,"language_id":1,"arabic_reference_id":null,"slug":"irans-eye-for-an-eye-strikes-on-us-bases-in-kuwait-jordan-destroy-patriot-system-drone-facilities","is_hidden":0,"is_popular":0,"is_featured":0,"is_slide_bar":0,"is_topped_bar":1,"sort_number":0,"category_id":4,"author_id":9,"creator_id":129,"initial_creator_id":135,"section_id":null,"blob_id":90223,"mobile_blob_id":null,"thumbnail_id":null,"created_at":"2026-07-23 20:11:09","updated_at":"2026-07-24 17:47:59","views":2690,"scheduled_at":null,"published_at":"2026-07-23 20:34:41","reference_id":null,"edit_lock":0,"is_draft":0,"is_arabic":0,"second_author_id":null,"reference_local_article_id":null,"poll_id":null,"is_featured_topped_bar":0,"category":{"id":4,"slug":"news","is_hidden":0,"sort_number":4,"is_slide_bar":0,"is_topped_bar":1,"created_at":"2023-06-26 23:06:04","updated_at":"2024-04-22...