On Tuesday afternoon, Iranian state television urged citizens to delete WhatsApp from their smartphones, claiming—without offering concrete evidence—that the messaging app collects user data to share with Israel.
In response, WhatsApp stated it was “concerned these false reports may serve as a pretext to block our services at a time when people rely on them the most.” The platform emphasized its use of end-to-end encryption, which prevents intermediaries from reading message content.
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“We do not track your precise location, retain records of who everyone messages, or monitor the personal messages people exchange,” WhatsApp added. “Nor do we provide bulk information to any government.”
End-to-end encryption ensures that only the sender and recipient can view messages. Any third party attempting to intercept these communications would encounter unreadable, scrambled data that cannot be deciphered without the encryption key.
Gregory Falco, a cybersecurity expert and assistant professor at Cornell University, noted that while message content is encrypted, certain metadata remains accessible, such as information about app usage patterns—a long-standing concern for some users wary of WhatsApp.
Falco also raised the issue of data sovereignty, explaining that WhatsApp’s data centers may not necessarily reside in the countries where its users are located. For example, it’s likely that data from Iranian users is stored outside Iran.
“Countries want their data stored and processed domestically, using their own systems and algorithms,” he said. “It’s becoming increasingly difficult to trust the global data infrastructure.”
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WhatsApp is owned by Meta Platforms, which also owns Facebook and Instagram.
Iran has previously restricted access to multiple social media platforms. However, many Iranians continue to use proxies and VPNs to bypass these bans. In 2022, the government blocked WhatsApp and Google Play amid widespread protests following the death of a woman in custody of the country’s morality police—a ban that was lifted late last year.