Amid escalating tensions between Iran and Israel, Iranian state television has urged citizens to delete the WhatsApp app from their smartphones. Officials believe that the app gathers user information to send to Israel, though no specific evidence has been provided.
In a statement, WhatsApp said it was “concerned these false reports will be used as an excuse to block our services at a time when people need them the most.”
WhatsApp employs end-to-end encryption, ensuring that messages are scrambled so only the sender and recipient can read them, preventing others from accessing or distorting the content, which requires a key to unscramble.
“We do not track your precise location, we don’t keep logs of who everyone is messaging, and we do not track the personal messages people are sending to one another,” the company added. “We do not provide bulk information to any government.”
Although Iran has restricted access to several social media platforms, many citizens use proxies and VPNs to stay connected. In 2022, it banned WhatsApp and Google Play during protests over a woman’s death, though the ban was lifted last year.
According to research by cybersecurity specialist Gregory Falco, an assistant professor of engineering at Cornell University, it is possible to crack WhatsApp’s unencrypted metadata, which can provide insights into how users interact with the app.
Falco also highlighted concerns over data sovereignty—the possibility that data centers storing WhatsApp information might not be located within a user’s country, raising questions about foreign access to domestic data.
As trust in the global network of data infrastructure weakens, Falco emphasized the need for countries to store their data locally and process it using their own algorithms, according to AP News.
Israel launched an attack on Iran last week, firing missiles that caused injuries and fatalities. The ongoing tensions between the two nations are now beginning to ripple into the global economy, triggering concerns over a broader crisis.
