Citizens across Iran are being urged to stop utilizing the services of one of the country’s most popular messaging apps, WhatsApp, amid the growing conflict with Israel.
Iranian state television communicated concerns over how the app, owned by Meta, is being used to gather Iranians’ data and information to send to Israel. No evidence has been presented to support this claim.
WhatsApp is “concerned these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most,” according to a statement provided to the Associated Press.
The messaging app, which has over 2 billion users in over 180 countries, applies end-to-end encryption to any messages sent through the platform. End-to-end encryption is a security measure that keeps messages private to only the sender and receiver by scrambling the messages, blocking even the service itself from gathering the data.
Yet, encryption does not protect everything. Cybersecurity expert and assistant professor at Cornell University Gregory Falco told AP that outside sources can still understand encryption-free metadata. Specifically, someone can determine how another person is utilizing the app through this type of data.
WhatsApp’s purpose is for users to communicate anywhere they want without barriers. The app does not track users’ locations or keep information on personal messages.
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“We do not provide bulk information to any government,” a WhatsApp spokesperson told The Hill. “For over a decade, Meta has provided consistent transparency reports that include the limited circumstances when WhatsApp information has been requested.”
Iran banned WhatsApp and Google Play in 2022 during mass protests against the government, but the ban was lifted last year. Many people can get around bans by using proxies and virtual private networks.