Iran warns citizens to delete WhatsApp on Meta data sharing with Israeli intelligence claims

Iran told its people on Tuesday to get WhatsApp off their phones, warning that Meta—the US tech company run by Mark Zuckerberg—is handing over their personal information to Israeli intelligence. 

This warning came straight from Iran’s state broadcaster as the country escalates both verbal and military attacks against Israel.

The report claimed Meta apps, including WhatsApp and Instagram, are grabbing user data like location and contact info, then tagging names and passing everything to Israel. The broadcaster called Israel the “Zionist enemy.” They gave no proof.

Meta fired back fast. WhatsApp released a statement calling the claims “false” and said none of it was true. “We’re concerned these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most,” the company said.

WhatsApp explained that all chats are protected with end-to-end encryption, which means not even the company can read messages. “All of the messages you send to family and friends on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted, meaning no one except the sender and recipient has access to those messages, not even WhatsApp.”

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