Iranian officials have urged citizens to uninstall WhatsApp, claiming without evidence that the app collects user data for Israel.
WhatsApp has strongly denied the allegations, fearing that the reports could be used as an excuse to block its services.
Despite its strong end-to-end encryption, the article highlights Israel's advanced cyber capabilities and provides examples of Israeli firms, such as NSO Group (creators of the Pegasus spyware) and Paragon Solutions, exploiting WhatsApp vulnerabilities to compromise user accounts.
Earlier today, Iranian officials urged the country’s citizens to remove the messaging platform WhatsApp from their smartphones. Without providing any supporting evidence, they alleged the app gathers user information to send to Israel.
WhatsApp has rejected the allegations. In a statement to Associated Press, the Meta-owned messaging platform said it was concerned “these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them most”. It added that it does not track users’ location nor the personal messages people are sending one another.
