Digital Byte #72: Staying Loud For The People Of Iran

January 27th, 2026

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how stories travel.

What gets amplified.
What gets framed.
What quietly disappears.

As an agency owner, I live in a world shaped by narrative. I know how much power lies in visibility. I know that attention is currency. I know that what people see becomes what they believe matters.

While some movements dominate headlines, others barely break through. Take Iran. In recent weeks, people across the country have been protesting peacefully. Women. Men. Students. Families. Entire communities.

They are asking for basic human rights. For dignity. For autonomy. For a future that feels livable.

They have been met with brutal force.

Human rights organizations estimate that thousands have been killed. Thousands more have been arrested, injured, or gone missing. Internet access has been cut. Voices have been silenced in real time.

And yet, so much of what is happening there feels muted. Filtered and sidelined in global coverage.

News is not always neutral. It is curated and framed. It is designed to persuade. So the question I keep coming back to is:

Why does one movement get global amplification while another is met with silence?

I’m not writing this as an expert on geopolitics. I’m writing this as someone who understands how attention works.

Silence is not passive. Silence is a decision.

It’s one thing to talk about rights in abstract. It’s another to look at real people trying to build, lead, and innovate in the middle of it all.

For example, Nazanin Daneshvar, born and raised in Tehran, is one of Iran’s most influential tech entrepreneurs. She founded Takhfifan, the country’s first major online discount and cashback platform that connects millions of customers with local merchants, all while mentoring other women and pushing back on cultural barriers in business.

Early on, she had to bring her father to meetings because potential partners refused to believe a woman was in charge. Yet she persisted, scaled her company, and became a global advocate for women in tech.

That’s courage on two fronts:
1. Starting a business where the economy is under pressure.
2. Doing it as a woman in a society where opportunities are not equally distributed.

As entrepreneurs, we understand what it takes to be heard. We fight for attention. We learn how to communicate. We build systems so our voices can travel farther than we ever could alone.

So when humans elsewhere are actively being blocked from being heard, because of censorship, repression, and fear, it feels like a responsibility not to look away.

We don’t have to be perfect advocates.
But we can choose not to be silent.

Because visibility is power.

How to Help

Because of the political landscape, it is incredibly difficult to ensure that donations actually reach people on the ground. Many “official” channels are restricted, monitored, or tied to agendas that never serve those who need support most.

Right now, the most powerful thing many of us can do is use our platforms, no matter how big or small.

Share.
Talk about it.

Stay loud,

Sydney