450 persons to face trial for using WhatsApp, Instagram in Iran

She sent him her nudes on Whatsapp. He leaked them to his contacts.

About 450 persons have been arrested and will be tried for using social media in Iran, SkyNews reports.

Users of apps such as Instagram, Telegram and WhatsApp were targeted.

“These people were carrying out immoral activities, insulted religious beliefs or had illegal activities in the field of fashion,” a Gherdab website is quoted as saying.

The suspects will now face trial, it added.

Facebook and Twitter are banned in the Islamic republic, though software that provides access is easily available.

More than half of Iran’s 80 million population is online. Telegram, an instant messaging app, has more than 20 million users.

In May, a committee headed by President Hassan Rouhani is said to have set a one-year deadline for foreign social media to hand over data on their Iranian users.