On July 7, the conservative-dominated Iranian state broadcaster aired the “confessions” of social media influencers, including 18-year-old Maedeh Hojabri. Her crime was that she took photos and videos of herself dancing and posted them on Instagram, where she had gained a relatively large following. The confessions were aired as part of a documentary aimed at "raising awareness about confronting social harms and threats,” which is nothing new in itself. But what happened next is novel. Indeed, the fierce public outcry demonstrates how Iranians, whether the general public or state officials, have considerably less tolerance for hard-liner excesses than in the past.

Thousands of social media posts heavily criticized Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) for seemingly terrorizing a young girl simply because she was happy. More unexpectedly, a wide range of government officials, conservative figures and even some clerics joined the rapidly growing chorus of angry critics. "What destroys faith and religion and ruins the establishment is not the quivering of a teenage girl's waist, but the slip of the old judge's pen!” wrote Islamic cleric Mohammadreza Zaeri on his Instagram profile.

But it turned out that a radical judge was not the issue, as the judiciary spokesman said no judge had signed off on Hojabri’s arrest and that the state broadcaster had, counter to instructions, in fact failed to seek permission from the media arm of the judiciary to air the documentary. Shortly afterward, the judiciary issued a formal warning to IRIB, which albeit weak is rare by Iranian standards.

As pressures mounted, IRIB was forced to respond, but the reaction was not what was sought. The state broadcaster's head of public relations Mohammad Hossein Ranjbaran claimed that the “confessions” were aired at the Iranian people’s behest. "It's the intrinsic duty of the national media and popular demand, especially by families, to have more information about social media," he said, stressing that the program was ordered by a social division of the police force.