Iranian state TV calls for WhatsApp removal amid rising digital tensions
The announcement revives long-standing tensions between Iran and Western tech platforms, with WhatsApp—owned by Meta Platforms, responding strongly to the allegations.
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Iranian state television on Tuesday urged citizens to delete WhatsApp from their smartphones, accusing the messaging platform of transmitting user data to Israel—without offering any evidence to support the claim. As per a report by The Associated Press, the announcement revives long-standing tensions between Iran and Western tech platforms, with WhatsApp—owned by Meta Platforms, responding strongly to the allegations.
"We are concerned these false reports may serve as a pretext to block our services again, especially when Iranians rely on secure communication tools the most," the company said in a statement. WhatsApp reiterated that it uses end-to-end encryption, ensuring that even the platform itself cannot access the content of users’ messages. "We do not track precise locations, message content, or keep logs of who is messaging whom. Nor do we provide bulk data to any government," it added.
The statement comes in the backdrop of Iran’s history of digital crackdowns. Although WhatsApp and Google Play were banned during the 2022 anti-government protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody, the restrictions were lifted in late 2023. However, the recent move indicates a potential return to tighter digital controls.
Despite years of state-imposed bans on platforms like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, millions of Iranians continue to access them using VPNs and proxy servers. WhatsApp has remained a crucial communication tool for many, second only to Instagram and Telegram in popularity.
The renewed accusations also reflect broader geopolitical undercurrents, as Iran seeks to frame certain foreign digital platforms as potential threats to national security. In the absence of hard evidence, critics argue that such claims serve more to justify future censorship than to address real data privacy concerns.
