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In September 2022, when the Woman, Life, Freedom protests erupted in Iran, many international commentators anticipated significant changes in the country. However, one and a half years later, there has been little meaningful transformation in Iranian society and politics. This paper argues that the activities of certain prominent Iranian opposition figures, notably Masih Alinejad, contributed to Iranians choosing to abstain from the protests. Through an extensive analysis of data from Google Trends, Wikipedia, and X, we demonstrate widespread cynicism among Iranians towards Masih Alinejad and her initiatives. Consequently, this study views her role as pivotal in safeguarding the Islamic Republic regime by presenting a bleak outlook for Iranians if the protests were to continue and succeed.
Ehsan Shahghasemi (Tue,) studied this question.