Meta, the owner of WhatsApp, has expressed concern over the potential banning of the app in Iran, following calls by the country’s state television urging citizens to delete WhatsApp amid official accusations that messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram are being used by Israel to track and target individuals.
A Meta spokesperson told CBS News, “We are concerned that these misleading claims may be used as a pretext to block our services at a time when people need them more than ever. All messages sent on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted, which means that no one—not even WhatsApp itself—can access the content of the conversations except the sender and recipient.”
The spokesperson added, “We do not track users’ precise locations, nor do we keep logs of who messages whom, and we do not access the personal messages people send to each other. Additionally, we do not provide aggregate data to any government. For over a decade, Meta has published transparency reports detailing the limited circumstances under which information has been requested from WhatsApp.”
In a related development, internet monitoring group NetBlocks reported a sharp 75% drop in internet usage across Iran on Tuesday, describing this as a development that “significantly restricts the public’s ability to access information, especially amid escalating tensions with Israel.”
Although WhatsApp offers end-to-end encryption, it is not completely immune to breaches. In a notable 2019 incident, Israeli software firm NSO exploited the app to target approximately 1,400 individuals, including journalists and activists, using its Pegasus spyware—an attack that led to a U.S. court fining NSO $167 million in favor of WhatsApp.
The recent escalation between Israel and Iran has reached new heights, with Israel conducting a series of strikes on nuclear facilities and military and civilian sites inside Iran, assassinating several senior military commanders and prominent nuclear scientists. Iran has responded with a series of rocket attacks causing significant damage in multiple Israeli cities, raising concerns of a widening conflict.
