Iran's rank for media freedom is 173 out of the 180 countries in the latest press freedom index of Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The Islamic Republic's rank has dropped three points from 170 in 2019 according to the new index released on Tuesday.
According to the report, Iran has been among the world’s worst repressive countries for journalists in the past four decades.
"As a result, it is the citizen-journalists on social networks who are now at the center of the battles for freely-reported news and information and for political change in Iran," the report said.
At least 860 journalists and citizen-journalists imprisoned or executed since 1979, the organization said.
The report mentioned extensive harassment of independent journalists, citizen-journalists and independent media coupled with intimidation, arbitrary arrest and long sentences imposed by revolutionary courts at the end of unfair trials as some of the factors that have made Iran an extremely difficult environment for journalists to work.
Tehran has been imposing strong censorship of the Internet.
