Iran's Revolutionary Guards target popular messaging app in widening crackdown.

REUTERS/Stringer.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian authorities have arrested administrators of more than 20 groups on the messaging app Telegram for spreading "immoral content", semi-official Fars news agency reported on Sunday, the latest detentions in a clampdown on freedom of expression.

In recent weeks, Iran's powerful hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has rounded up a number of artists, journalists and U.S. citizens, citing fears of Western "infiltration".

Their campaign coincides with Iran beginning the implementation of a nuclear deal signed with world powers in July, which hardliners oppose for fear it will open up Iranian society to what they see as corrupting Western influences.

The Telegram groups were targeted for their "immoral content", police spokesman Saeed Montazer al-Mahdi was quoted as saying by Fars. He also said more than 100 "hackers" had been arrested in the past month, without giving more details.




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By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Sam Wilkin.