Iran's president rejects proposal to ban WhatsApp
Getty Images/Justin Sullivan

The internet has been abuzz the past few days over reports that Iran blocked messaging service WhatsApp because its owner, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, is an "American Zionist." Although it's true that a committee secretary from Iran's Committee for Determining Criminal Web Content made that anti-Semitic remark and wants to ban the service, the app isn't actually banned.
President Hassan Rouhani vetoed a plan today to ban WhatsApp, reports AFP. Although access to social networks like Twitter and Facebook is blocked in the tightly controlled country, Rouhani appears to be making good on his promise to ease the country's restrictions on the flow of information.
"The issue of banning WhatsApp was raised," said Telecommunication Minister Mahmoud Vaezi, according to reformist newspaper Sharq. "Until the time that we have a replacement for these sites, the government opposes filtering them."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.
-
5 suspiciously good cartoons about the Epstein files
Cartoons Artists take on the relationship between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein
-
A glorious Greek island without the 'swank'
The Week Recommends Lesbos doesn't welcome 'hoards' of tourists, but is 'magnificent' and worth exploring
-
Norman Tebbit: fearsome politician who served as Thatcher's enforcer
In the Spotlight Former Conservative Party chair has died aged 94
-
Nvidia hits $4 trillion milestone
Speed Read The success of the chipmaker has been buoyed by demand for artificial intelligence
-
X CEO Yaccarino quits after two years
Speed Read Elon Musk hired Linda Yaccarino to run X in 2023
-
Musk chatbot Grok praises Hitler on X
Speed Read Grok made antisemitic comments and referred to itself as 'MechaHitler'
-
Disney, Universal sue AI firm over 'plagiarism'
Speed Read The studios say that Midjourney copied characters from their most famous franchises
-
Amazon launches 1st Kuiper internet satellites
Speed Read The battle of billionaires continues in space
-
Test flight of orbital rocket from Europe explodes
Speed Read Isar Aerospace conducted the first test flight of the Spectrum orbital rocket, which crashed after takeoff
-
Apple pledges $500B in US spending over 4 years
Speed Read This is a win for Trump, who has pushed to move manufacturing back to the US
-
Microsoft unveils quantum computing breakthrough
Speed Read Researchers say this advance could lead to faster and more powerful computers