An Iranian court has opened a case against the instant messaging services WhatsApp and Instagram while also summoning Facebook's founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg over complaints of privacy violation, the Iranian state news agency ISNA reports.
The court in the southern province of Fars opened the cases against the social networks after citizens reportedly complained of breaches of privacy.
"According to the court's ruling, the Zionist director of the company of Facebook, or his official attorney, must appear in court to defend himself and pay for possible losses," said Ruhollah Momen-Nasab, an Iranian internet official, according to state news agency ISNA, referring to Zuckerberg's Jewish background.
Facebook is currently in the process of buying WhatsApp. Zuckerberg is unlikely to heed the summons.
Internet use is high in Iran, partly because many young Iranians turn to it to bypass an official ban on Western cultural products, and Tehran occasionally filters popular websites such as Twitter and Facebook. President Hassan Rouhani, in remarks that appear to challenge hard liners who have stepped up measures to censor the internet, said earlier this month that Iran should embrace the Web rather than see it as a threat. A Rouhani administration official said Iran would loosen censorship by introducing "smart filtering", which only keeps out sites the Islamic government considers immoral.