Iraq Blocks Telegram, Cites Personal Data Violations

Iraq’s Ministry of Communications has announced the ban of the popular messaging application Telegram.

The ministry, in a statement published by the Iraqi News Agency (WAA), stated that the decision to block Telegram came as per the directives of higher authorities, to address concerns related to national security and the misuse of personal data in violation of the law.

Telegram has been widely used in Iraq for messaging purposes, and it has also served as a significant source of news and content sharing.

However, certain channels on the platform were found to contain vast amounts of personal data, including names, addresses, and family links of Iraqi users.

The ministry of repeatedly requested cooperation from the company responsible for managing the mentioned application to shut down platforms that were involved in leaking data from official state institutions and citizens' personal information.

Such data leaks were seen as posing a threat to Iraq's national security and societal peace, but the company did not respond or comply with any of these requests.