Delete WhatsApp From Your Phones, Says THIS Govt; Messaging App Responds

Iran's allegations on WhatsApp leaking user data comes amidst escalating military confrontation with Israel.

New Delhi: The Iranian government has reportedly urged its citizen to remove WhatsApp from their smartphones. Iran has alleged that the messaging app gathered user information and data to send to Israel.

As per a report in the Associated Press, Iranian State television has appealed to the people to delete WhatsApp from their smartphones. The allegations on WhatsApp sneaking out user data comes amidst escalating military confrontation between Israel and Iran that entered its sixth consecutive day on Wednesday.

The AP also published statement given by WhatsApp on the Iranian government's allegation. WhatsApp, said 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...We do not provide bulk information to any government," AP reporting WhatsApp's statement wrote.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp has, several times in the past reiterated that its messages are end-to-end encrypted, meaning that nobody can read them.

"Your privacy and security is of utmost importance to us, so we have built an end-to-end encryption feature into the app for you. Due to end-to-end encryption, your messages, photos, videos, voice messages, documents, live location , status updates and calls are secure and no one can misuse them," WhatsApp says in its FAQ segment.

How does WhatsApp end-to-end encryption work?

WhatsApp says that the messaging app's end-to-end encryption feature is used when you chat with someone on WhatsApp Messenger. 

"End-to-end encryption keeps your private messages and calls between you and the person you're chatting with. No one other than the people in the chat can read, listen, or share them, not even WhatsApp. This is because when end-to-end encryption is enabled, your messages are digitally locked and the digital key to open that lock and read the message is only with you and the person who received the message. All this happens automatically. You don't need to enable any special settings to keep your messages secure," it says.