Iraq plans to block the navigation app Waze from the start of 2027 because it was developed in Israel. The government is pointing drivers towards Google Maps and a locally built alternative, while experts question whether banning a single app does much to protect location data.
Iraq is set to ban the popular navigation app Waze, which was founded in Israel, Al Jazeera reported.
Communications Minister Mustafa Sanad announced the move on Tuesday, October 6, on the sidelines of the Hitex 2026 technology exhibition in Erbil.
“Because it comes from the entity [Israel] and is Israeli-made, we will ban it at the beginning of 2027,” he told the broadcaster Rudaw.
When It Takes Effect
The Ministry of Communications plans to block the app by the end of December, according to the Iraqi newspaper Al-Mada. The minister said it would take effect at the start of 2027.
The ministry has not said how the block will be enforced.
What Waze Is
Waze is a navigation app that relies on its users to report traffic jams, accidents and police checkpoints as they happen. Many taxi drivers use it.
It was developed in Israel and bought by Google in 2013 for nearly $1 billion.
Depending on a user’s settings, its privacy policy allows it to collect locations, routes, destinations, search histories and device details. Pooled across many users, such data can reveal movement patterns.
Rudaw reported that the app has been discussed in Iraqi security circles because its alerts can be used to avoid checkpoints, though the minister did not link the ban to that.
Why the Israeli Link Matters
Iraq does not recognise Israel, has no diplomatic relations with it and has formally been at war with it since 1948.
A 2022 law criminalises any diplomatic, political, military, economic or cultural ties with Israel, with penalties that include life imprisonment and death. It was passed by 275 votes in the 329-seat parliament.
The minister has not said specifically that Waze must be blocked under that law.
Distrust has grown during the war on Iran. In May, US media reported that Israel had built two secret military outposts in Iraq’s desert to support that war.
The Alternatives
Sanad said users could switch to Google Maps or Iraqi navigation apps. A ministry spokesman, Omar al-Amiri, said Waze would be replaced by an Iraqi app that has yet to be named.
Google Maps and Waze have the same owner.
Questions From Experts
Iraqi technology researcher Mustafa Kamel al-Sharif told Al-Mada that a national alternative would need far more than an Iraqi map and logo. It would require accurate geographic databases, a constantly updated road network, routing systems and live traffic data.
The real issue, he said, is how Iraq regulates its citizens’ data, since other services may collect sensitive information in much the same way.
Image: The Waze logo at a company event in 2014 (file photo). Photo by René C. Nielsen via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
