Planet Labs said it will indefinitely withhold satellite images of Iran and surrounding conflict areas after a request from the US government, sharply limiting public access to commercial imagery of the war zone. The California based company said the restriction applies retroactively to images dating back to March 9 and will stay in place until the conflict ends.
The company had already introduced a 14 day delay on releasing imagery from the region, but the new move goes much further by creating what it described as a managed distribution system. Under that approach, images may still be released in mission critical or public interest cases, but only under tighter control.
Planet Labs said the change was meant to stop adversaries from using the imagery for military purposes. Reuters reported that the Pentagon declined to comment, while other providers have also tightened access controls during the conflict, though not all said they received the same direct request from Washington.
The decision comes as the war involving the United States, Israel and Iran has expanded across the region, increasing the strategic value of commercial satellite images for governments, journalists, researchers and the public. Restricting those images could reduce real time visibility into military damage, infrastructure strikes and battlefield developments. That final point is an inference based on the role such imagery normally plays during conflicts and the scale of the new restrictions.
The move is likely to renew debate over how much influence governments should have over privately operated satellite companies during wartime, especially when those firms control some of the world’s most widely used commercial imagery.
