Iranians left without internet, asked to delete WhatsApp
Communications have been disrupted in the country with a population of 90 million, as the government believes the media can be used to disrupt psychological security.
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Communications have been disrupted in the country with a population of 90 million, as the government believes the media can be used to disrupt psychological security.
“Metrics show #Iran has now been offline for over 12 hours as authorities impose a nation-scale internet shutdown, citing Israel's alleged 'misuse' of the network for military purposes,” NetBlocks, which tracks global network connectivity, said over six hours ago.
⚠ Update: Metrics show #Iran has now been offline for over 12 hours as authorities impose a nation-scale internet shutdown, citing Israel's alleged undefinedmisuseundefined of the network for military purposes; the measure continues to hinder residents' access to information at a critical time pic.twitter.com/cE0kZMQwtE
undefined NetBlocks (@netblocks) June 19, 2025
Iran has been restricting connectivity since Friday, 13th of June, ever since Israel launched a surprise attack against dozens of targets in Iran.
Since then, Iranians have been flocking to virtual private networks (VPNs) to stay informed and continue using Western social media apps. VPNs for Iran help users bypass censorship and maintain access to information in real-time, during the the ongoing unrest and government-imposed internet blackouts.
As is common with less democratic countries and authoritarian regimes, internet connectivity is often disrupted during critical times to limit people’s ability to communicate and organize. It is likely that Iranians will have very limited connectivity as long as the armed conflict continues.
Last year, amid internet restrictions, Iranians “were caught” using smuggled Starlink devices to stay connected, the Iran Wire reported.
According to the Associated Press, Iranians were urged to remove WhatsApp from their smartphones because the app allegedly gathered user location and sent it to Israel.
“We’re concerned these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most,” Meta-owned WhatsApp reportedly said in a statement.
