Iran’s censor is reportedly banning Whatsapp now under Facebook because Mark Zuckerberg is Jewish.
According to Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, secretary of Iran’s Committee for Determining Criminal Web Content the reason for the ban is due to “the adoption of WhatsApp by the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is an American Zionist,” the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Saturday.
Though the ban is the subject of some controversy within the Iranian government. “The government is completely against the ban on WhatsApp,” said Mahmoud Mehr, Iran’s communications minister, according to Haaretz.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has promised to ease restrictions on the Internet in Iran, where both Facebook and Twitter are banned. A Twitter account linked to Rouhani retweeted opposition to the ban.
#Iran Communications Minister: Government of #Prudence & #Hope fully opposed to filtering of WhatsApp
— Meet Iran (@MeetIran) May 3, 2014
Iran blocked WeChat, another popular messaging app, last December and is considering banning other apps, including Instagram, Haaretz said.
Social media played a role in Iran’s 2009 Green Revolution protests against former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
