Iranians in L.A. turn to WhatsApp and Fox News for updates on loved ones

As the United States and Israel continue to bomb Iran, Iranian Angelenos are turning to a patchwork of communications apps, social media and cable news for information about loved ones some 8,000 miles from home.

The Times spoke this week with several people in Westwood’s “Tehrangeles” neighborhood — the epicenter of Los Angeles’ sprawling Iranian diaspora — where they continued to express their discontent. mixture of anxiety and elation after the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Many said they rely on apps such as Telegram and WhatsApp to receive messages from family and friends in Tehran and other parts of the country, while large numbers said they turn to Fox News for the latest updates.

Internet access in Iran is tightly controlled by the government, which has one of the most restrictive online censorship systems in the world. Internet traffic is routed through state-controlled infrastructure that allows authorities to monitor usage and block thousands of websites, including social media platforms, international news sources and messaging apps.

But people find ways to cope.

Many use a form of “shekan filter” – an Iranian term for virtual private networks, circumvention apps and other tools that can bypass internet filters and access government-blocked websites. Some use an Android app that allows users outside the country to act as relays, allowing people in Iran to route calls and messages through the outside Internet connection and bypass government filtering. Others still use landlines, which can work when the Internet is down but are widely seen as being monitored by authorities.

Charlene Laurent, an Iranian social media influencer in Los Angeles, pointed out that most filtering tools cost money, meaning some people can’t access them. She spoke Thursday at a gathering of around 100 Iranians in front of the Israeli consulate on Wilshire Boulevard, where she came to express her gratitude to President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their military action.

When the Internet in Iran is stable, Laurent says his cousins ​​in Tehran sometimes call him via WhatsApp, although they prefer Telegram because his encrypted messages can be easily deleted. She said constant deletions were necessary because authorities recently broke into a home in her cousin’s neighborhood, confiscated the man’s phone and accused him of being a U.S. spy.

“People tell me I’m very brave to speak out against this, because I get a lot of death threats, but it’s nothing compared to what they’re doing in Iran,” Laurent said.

Iran expert Mehrzad Boroujerdi says this is a risk many people are willing to take.

“There’s still that fear, but the need for communication is so great that people are using these apps to connect with each other,” Boroujerdi, co-founder of the Iran Data Portal at Syracuse University and dean of the College of Arts, Sciences and Education at Missouri University of Science and Technology, said in a phone call.

“Of course the government is very opposed – that’s why it wants to cut off the Internet in order to prevent any mobilization, or for example the sending of video clips that the government does not consider favorable to expatriate TV channels broadcasting in Iran,” he said. “This is part of the ongoing censorship war.”

As for her family in Los Angeles, Laurent said she tends to turn to Fox News because “CNN is, sorry to say, fake news.” That’s because she doesn’t think the images broadcast on CNN match the videos she sees directly in Iran.

She’s far from the only person who said they turn to Fox, the conservative-leaning cable news network, for the latest updates.

“I’m addicted to Fox 24/7,” said Shahram Elyaszadeh, 66, an Iranian who has lived in the United States since 1979 and runs a mortgage banking office on Wilshire Boulevard.

“Fox is the most trustworthy,” said Ryan Ghasemi, 56, who recently moved here from Canada. “We don’t trust left-wing media like CNN and the BBC. In Iran, they call the BBC “the Ayatollah of the BBC” because they believe it sympathizes with the government.

Social media influencer Charlene Laurent waves a flag in front of the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

Ghasemi said he speaks with his brother in Iran almost every day via WhatsApp, which his brother accesses through paid software to bypass government filters. “It’s not easy, it’s not fast, but at least we can talk and receive the messages,” he said.

David Taheri, 53, said he had family in Tehran and Ahvaz, including his mother and siblings. He hasn’t been able to contact any of them directly for several days, but was able to get news from a friend who asked her family to contact their family and confirm their safety, like a game of telephone. Most of these updates come from WhatsApp, but sometimes from Telegram, he said.

He added that he too prefers Fox News “because they are against the Islamic Republic.”

Boroujerdi, the Iran expert, said the preference for Fox aligns with broader trends.

“Much of the Iranian expat community, especially in places like Los Angeles, considers itself monarchist: they are opposed to the Islamic Republic, favor the exiled Shah’s son. [Reza Pahlavi]”That’s why they view CNN, BBC… as TV channels that are not necessarily sympathetic to their cause,” he said. “That’s why they turned to Fox News in terms of American media channels.”

Some people are also turning to expat news channels, such as London-based Iran International, which is broadcast in the United States and Iran via satellite, streaming online and on social media, he said. Others are “addicted” to social media apps like TikTok and Instagram “because everyone is hungry to discover stories about what is happening to their families and loved ones inside the country, and also to follow the course of events”.

After the bombing began, Mehrnoosh Arabestani, 42, said she was unable to reach her cousins ​​in the Iranian city of Qom for five days because communications were cut. She was relieved when a call finally came and they told her they were safe, and actually happy because the diet was gone.

Ali Javahery, who helped organize the event at the consulate Thursday with the Hambastegi group, wore a “Make Iran Great Again” hat and said communication is one of the problems he hopes the war will solve.

A sign shows President Trump and Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu during a public demonstration in support of the war in Iran at the Israeli consulate Thursday in Los Angeles.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

“We want the United States and Israel to help us communicate with our loved ones,” he said. “They don’t have Internet there. They want to communicate with us. We are at the mercy of whatever is available. We need the United States to open the airwaves to them.”

But as he celebrated on Wilshire Boulevard, other neighborhood residents said the war weighed heavily on them. Mohammad Ghafarian, owner of Shater Abbass Bakery and Market on Westwood Boulevard, said he had no luck reaching his family in Tehran or Mashhad.

“I am happy because the Ayatollah was overthrown and for freedom,” he said. “But there is still war, and I worry about my family and I hope the United States will not bomb civilians, and I hope it ends as soon as possible.”

Before the bombing began, Ghafarian usually spoke on the phone with his family every one or two weeks, and with his friend every other day, he said. Now, he said he mainly follows Instagram and monitors all the news channels for updates, including CNN, CNBC and Fox.

“I look at all of that,” he said.