Iranian state television on Tuesday urged citizens to remove WhatsApp from their smartphones, alleging—without providing specific evidence—that the messaging app collects user information and sends it to Israel.
WhatsApp, owned by Meta, responded by saying it was "concerned these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most."
“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 one another,” the company said.
“We do not provide bulk information to any government,” it added.
WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption, meaning service providers cannot read messages exchanged between users.