The 2026 blackouts, day by day
Two shutdowns over five months, as Google’s traffic and Tor’s users from Iran recorded them.
29 December – 7 January
An ordinary week
In the days before 8 January, Google’s products were used in Iran at their usual levels: each line is one product’s daily traffic from Iran against its own previous 30 days, and all of them stayed between 83% and 131% of usual.
Sources: Google Transparency Report
8 January – 17 January
8 January: everything falls
On 8 January, the twelfth day of protests, the authorities cut internet and phone service across the country. From 9 January, no Google product reached more than 8% of its usual traffic.
Sources: Wikipedia: 2026 Internet blackout in Iran · Iran International: NetBlocks on the blackout · Google Transparency Report
18 January – 28 January
18 January: Search alone
On 18 January and 19 January Search came back, to 94% of usual, while Gmail, Maps and Translate stayed under 25%: a whitelist, letting some services through and not others, which only Google’s data shows here. Reports date the easing to 28 January; by that day Gmail, Maps and Translate were back at 64% to 88% of usual.
Sources: Google Transparency Report · Wikipedia: 2026 Internet blackout in Iran · Iran International: NetBlocks on the blackout
25 February – 7 March
28 February: again
After military strikes on 28 February, Search fell to 38% of usual that day, and from 1 March no product passed 16%.
Sources: Wikipedia: 2026 Internet blackout in Iran · Iran International: internet restored after 88-day blackout · Google Transparency Report
1 March – 15 April
Six weeks of almost nothing
From 1 March to 15 April the lines stayed at the floor. Tor, which reaches the network only where some connection exists, fell with them: about 170 bridge users and 1,100 relay users a day, against about 33,000 bridge users a day in the weeks before 28 February.
Sources: Google Transparency Report · Tor Metrics
16 April – 25 May
16 April: Search alone, again
On 16 April and 17 April Search returned, to 92% of usual, while Gmail, Maps, Translate and YouTube stayed under 22% until 25 May. Tor use grew week by week: about 1,100 bridge and 6,200 relay users a day in the two weeks to 24 May.
Sources: Google Transparency Report · Tor Metrics
26 May – 14 June
26 May: the slow return
The president ordered the blackout ended on 25 May, and service returned partially on 26 May. By 31 May Gmail was at 106% and Translate at 84% of usual, Maps at 64%; Tor users jumped to about 37,000 on bridges and 72,000 on relays.
Sources: Wikipedia: 2026 Internet blackout in Iran · Iran International: internet restored after 88-day blackout · Google Transparency Report · Tor Metrics
29 December – 14 June
What this page can and cannot see
Google’s lines are Iran’s share of traffic to each product against that product’s own past, which Google publishes with noise; they are not a count of users. Tor’s are Tor Metrics’ estimates. IranBlock’s own collectors began in April 2026: everything before that here comes from the archives these projects publish, and none of it says how any one person was connected.
Sources: Google Transparency Report · Tor Metrics · Methodology
Google traffic, every day since 2009The timeline of shutdowns