Iran’s Hassan Rouhani Rejects Ban of ‘Zionist’ WhatsApp
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has rejected a plan to ban the free text-messaging service WhatsApp.
The plan was approved by an Iranian censorship committee and then announced Sunday by Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, head of the country’s Committee for Determining Criminal Web Content.
“The reason for this is the assumption of WhatsApp by the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is an American Zionist,” Khorramabadi reportedly said Sunday.
Access to Twitter and Facebook, and other social networks, as well as other controversial websites, are often blocked by Iranian authorities. Iran does not ban Facebook, however. Rouhani has been active in recent months on the social networking site as well as Twitter.
Iran’s Telecommunications Minister Mahmoud Vaezi said Wednesday that Rouhani had ordered a stop to the proposed ban of WhatsApp, until there is something to take its place, the French news agency AFP reported, citing the Arab-language, reformist daily Sharq.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!