After the destruction of the Shariat Hosseinieh in Qom in 2006, a group of Dervish rights activists created the Majzooban-e Noor website. It was in response to their boycott by the establishment media, which did not cover the news of Dervishes because of the government’s censorship. Within a few years, this website could provide comprehensive news coverage of the Gonabadi Dervish community and report about government’s suppressive and discriminatory actions against them. The website’s managers and editors were arrested in 2011. They were sentenced to 56 years’ imprisonment in total.

The barriers of political oppression and the news blackout inspired Gonabadi Dervishes to expand their network and publicize their message on social media. Since March 2014, accounts affiliated with the Majzooban-e Noor in Facebook and Twitter became the main tools for reporting on oppression against Dervishes and recruiting supporters. During the violent clashes of February 2018, social media virtually became the only source for transmitting updates about events in Tehran.