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Iran asks its people to delete WhatsApp (apnews.com)

submitted 18 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[-] [email protected] 66 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

The right advice but with the wrong motive lol

[-] [email protected] 67 points 17 hours ago

Unblock signal first?

[-] [email protected] 92 points 18 hours ago

Pretty good advice. Although they are probably recommending that for more than just it being a Meta data farming scam.

[+] [email protected] -37 points 17 hours ago

Why is this good advice? They want their people to suffer. They want them to not communicate with the outside world

[-] [email protected] 103 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

They are basically at war with the US and there is this piece of US Tech that nearly everyone is carrying around and that can access their communications, precise location, microphone and camera.

It's also owned by a company, Meta, that has a history of being used as a tool to manipulate public opinion. I have no particular sympathy for Iran's leadership but I can understand why they would advice that (and I don't think WhatsApp is the only way for people to communicate with the outside world).

[-] [email protected] 28 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

Meta is also literally developing AI war machines for the US. That also runs on said data from WhatsApp.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 15 hours ago

Okay so they uninstall WhatsApp? What operating systems are they using and what countries are the manufacturers for those based in?

[-] [email protected] 12 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

I get what you mean and it's a fair point. But I would still go with Meta as the most immediate threat in a war with the US.

As the ignorant I am, my understanding is that the phone manufacturer has a level of control on the way Android works and so it wouldn't be as easy for Google to access any individual Samsung or Xiaomi phone as it is for Meta with WhatsApp, an app they fully control with permissions to use (way too many) phone features regardless of brand.

Plus, getting both Google and Apple to cooperate and coordinate sounds harder to me than just going to one company, that is basically controlled by only one person.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 14 hours ago

They are probably using Xiaomi which is based in China, using AOSP with whatever mods they throw on it, which isn't based anywhere and is open source, or it could be Huawei too.

[-] [email protected] 16 points 17 hours ago

Signal is a much better choice and its basically a whatsapp clone.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 14 hours ago

other way around. Whatsapp is a signal clone.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Huh? I was curious about this and looked up the wikis only. However, WhatsApp initial release was 16 years ago and Signal initial release was 10 years ago. It also appears in the history that WhatsApp had a version on iOS in 2009 while Signal didn’t have anything for Android until 2010 (under Whisper I believe).

I’m trying to figure out how either is a clone of the other when they were developed around the same times. It seems the idea was just a similar idea from two different entities.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 10 hours ago

The clone comment likely refers to the underlying architecture, as WhatsApp is using the signal protocol for its 'secured' messaging. Of the two, signal is the far superior choice for anyone not forced to live in Zucco's World. It's the more private option, and is secure by default unlike a lot of apps (namely, telegram).

WhatsApp (thankfully) is secure by default now according to Google, but it took them a hot minute to get to that point. That being said, you're still giving metadata to Zucc no matter what, which is still really bad to give the guy working on military AI...

[-] [email protected] 2 points 10 hours ago

Ah. Thank you for that bit of information. I didn’t go super deep because I was mostly just curious about the clone comment and learning a little more about each platform.

[-] [email protected] -4 points 11 hours ago

Signal is a much better choice and its basically a whatsapp clone.

Must be why signal runs on the WhatsApp protocol

[-] [email protected] 6 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

The only people making Iranians suffer at the moment are the Zionist fascists and their US proxies. They've already killed 1200 people in their unprovoked attack, including with terrorism and car bombs.

Don't forget Trump telling the ENTIRE city of Tehran with a population the size of New York to "evacuate"

[-] [email protected] 11 points 14 hours ago

Mossad angry

[-] [email protected] 23 points 17 hours ago

US tech is in bed with Zionist fascism.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 17 hours ago

Big US Corp is in bed with money and power. Right now, that means MAGA and that does mean fascism & Zionists. The tech itself can be ok. Though WhatsApp/Facebook isn't.

[-] [email protected] 20 points 17 hours ago

This is excellent advice.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 16 hours ago

For once I can see eye to eye with a murderous theocratic regime.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 8 hours ago

Yeah, that happens sometimes.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 12 hours ago

Wouldn't want those pesky citizens having the ability to communicate securely, would we !

[-] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago

Communicate securely with WhatsApp? That's an oxymoron.

this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2025

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