WhatsApp? Crimes Against The Internet Apparently – Zuckerberg Summonsed To Court In Iran

It's not the ideal status update but Mark Zuckerberg has been ordered to appear in an Iranian court to address privacy issues. The Facebook entrepreneur is being summonsed to Iran to answer complaints regarding Instagram and WhatsApp privacy violations. According to semi-official news agency, INSA, Ruhollah Momen Nasab, an official with the paramilitary Basij force, also stated that a judge in the south of the country had ordered the two services be blocked.

In a separate court ruling last week a judge ordered Instagram to be blocked in the country however users of the app in the capital, Tehran, were still able to access both applications and like other Iranian websites and Internet applications that been reported blocked, the picture sharing site still remains operational.

Earlier this month Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Iran's censor made a decision to ban WhatsApp. Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, chief of the country’s Committee on Internet Crimes, was quoted saying: "The reason for this is the assumption of WhatsApp by the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is an American Zionist."

Despite Facebook, Twitter and YouTube being banned in the country, senior leaders such as the Foreign Minister Mohammad, Javad Zarif, are active on Twitter.

It is highly unlikely that Zuckerberg, who identifies himself as an atheist, will appear in court as the US and Iran do not have an extradition treaty.