On June 8th, a number of Iranian online businesses reported that they have been banned from using Google Maps Services. After investigating the situation, we found out that Google has blocked the IR domains which use Google Maps’ API.
The reason behind this ban seems to be the new changes made in Google’s pricing and billing. According to the website of Google Maps Platform, starting July 16, 2018, a new pay as you go pricing plan will go into effect for Maps, Routes, and Places. On the website it says, “This new plan gives you more flexibility and control over how you use our APIs: You can use as much or as little as you need and only pay for what you use each month. We would also like to highlight that beginning July 16th, we are changing the pricing for our Maps, Routes, and Places products.”
Google Maps is still available for the end users in Iran but with limited features, including the voice navigation. Many of the Google’s services are blocked in Iran.
