Iranian officials have reportedly banned the use of messaging service WhatsApp, citing the Jewish heritage of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, which now owns WhatsApp.
According to initial accounts from Fox News, Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, secretary of the Committee for Determining Criminal Web Content, said the reason for the change is "the adoption of WhatsApp by the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is an American Zionist."
Facebook declined to comment on the reports.
The Twitter account of Iranian president Hassan Rouhani on Saturday retweeted a message from @MeetIran, which said it opposed the WhatsApp blockade.
#Iran Communications Minister: Government of #Prudence & #Hope fully opposed to filtering of WhatsApp
— Meet Iran (@MeetIran) May 3, 2014Communications Minister Mahmoud Mehr told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) the same thing, according to Israeli news site Haaretz.
Web censorship is nothing new in Iran. As Haaretz pointed out, Twitter and Facebook were banned there in 2009 amidst the the Arab Spring uprising that was sparked by the questionable re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Facebook was temporarily accessible last year, but officials attributed that to to a "technical glitch," and access was quickly pulled.
Some residents have thwarted Internet blockades by using VPN services, though Iran cracked down on that last year, too.
Despite its massive popularity around the world, WhatsApp has become something of a black sheep in the Middle East. In February, the app was named the "No. 1 cause of destruction in Jewish homes and businesses," according to Israeli rabbis, who discouraged its use among the ultra-Orthodox.
Nonetheless, WhatsApp last month reached a milestone 500 million global users, who share more than 700 million photos and 100 million videos every day.
For more, see What Is WhatsApp? An Explainer.
Editor's Note: This story was updated at 1:40 p.m. Eastern to reflect the initial report by Fox News, and again on Tuesday with comment from Facebook.