Iran Urges Citizens to Delete WhatsApp Over Security Concerns, Claims Data Sent to Israel

Tehran: Iranian state television issued a public call on Tuesday afternoon, urging citizens to delete the WhatsApp application from their smartphones. The state media claimed that the messaging app collects users’ data and sends it to Israel. However, no concrete evidence has been presented to support this allegation.
WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta, swiftly rejected these claims. In a statement, the company expressed concern that such misinformation could be used as an excuse to shut down the service, especially at a time when people rely on it the most. The company emphasized that it does not track users’ exact locations, maintain records of who is communicating with whom, or monitor personal messages. Furthermore, WhatsApp assured that it does not provide aggregate data to any government.
WhatsApp employs end-to-end encryption, meaning messages are only visible to the sender and recipient, and no third party can read the content while it’s in transit. However, cybersecurity expert and Assistant Professor at Cornell University, Gregory Falco, pointed out that while the content of messages is encrypted, metadata, such as when and how often a user accesses the app, can still be collected.
Another issue raised is “data sovereignty”—the concern that data belonging to citizens of one country may not be stored within that country’s borders. In nations like Iran, there is fear that their data could be stored in data centers located in other countries.
Iran has a history of imposing restrictions on social media apps. WhatsApp and Google Play were blocked in 2022 following protests across the country after a young woman died in police custody. However, this ban was lifted at the end of last year.
WhatsApp, along with Instagram and Telegram, remains one of the most widely used apps in Iran, with many users accessing these platforms through VPNs and proxy servers.