Iran asks its people to delete WhatsApp from their devices

Post by bawolff » Wed, Jun 18, 2025, 10:15 AM UTC

csomar wrote: post #421

bawolff wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think anyone is suggesting invading with boots on the ground. It would be a blood bath, as you say, and nobody seems interested in that. I suspect what Israel is hoping for is that if they disrupt Iranian internal security enough, Iran wont be able to put down protestors. In the past there have been protests that Iran had to put down violently, so its not crazy. At the same time, hard to imagine anyone going…

No, if you disrupt the current regime, you get something more extreme akin to ISIS. You can negotiate a peace deal with Iran, but you can't negotiate a peace deal with 50+ Islamic factions each running its own territory. That would require boots of the ground; and that's what the current leadership is looking for. The parent poster is correct. It is much easier to convince you into this if I tell you "We can solve th…

Post by bawolff » Wed, Jun 18, 2025, 10:30 AM UTC

4gotunameagain wrote: post #382

bawolff wrote: post #323

I kind of suspect this is more a desperate regime on the brink of (at least military) collapse grasping at straws. Potentially they might be worried about anti-regime activists organizing on whatsapp and want to push people to more easily monitoriable alternatives. If iran knew meta was doing this for a long time, then it raises the question of why they are just asking people to delete it now. One would presume that…

Or, it is a country at war that was initiated unjustly by a third party that has the support of the US, and they're doing all they can to survive. Why trust a US company when the US helped Israel attack Iran while in negotiations ?

Post by XajniN » Wed, Jun 18, 2025, 10:35 AM UTC

grafmax wrote: post #423

ivandenysov wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is also about sending a message to the population (no pun intended), about uniting them against a common enemy. Dictators want people to believe that their enemy is also the enemy of the people.

The idea that Israel is trying to help the Iranian people is a falsehood. Israel is bombing residential neighborhoods. This is cynicism on the part of the Israeli government, something we should be well aware of now as they are completing the final stages of the genocide in Gaza.

Post by fluidcruft » Wed, Jun 18, 2025, 11:00 AM UTC

hungmung wrote: post #302

perihelions wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meta can also just lie about it. If they were secretly granting backdoor root access to some NSA spooks, like Microsoft did with PRISM or AT&T did with 641A, most likely no one would find out, so, there'd be zero actual downside to simply lying.

Usually the three letter agencies will send you a National Security Letter. If somebody sends you a NSL you're not allowed to talk about it, which makes it very difficult to even tell if the NSL is legal or not because it's very difficult to retain legal counsel with these kinds of matters, and secret courts don't have a whole lot of accountability either.

Post by balamatom » Wed, Jun 18, 2025, 11:09 AM UTC

bevr1337 wrote: post #98

CommanderData wrote: post #91

There's good reason to believe lots of western apps have back doors, if not backdoors served to countries like Iran from app stores. Also car tech and cameras. Literally a wet dream if I worked at a three letter agency, real time surveillance of streets which is actually extremely difficult normally. Can't think of how many times I've wanted a recent picture of a street or house miles away, with 360 car cameras you c…

> There's good reason to believe lots of western apps have back doors A common sentiment in this thread. My gut and practical experience both tell me this is true on some level, but how do folks distinguish tinfoil hat conspiracy from legitimate speculation?