Transparency

Who asked for your data, and what we said.

Reporting period: 1 January – 30 June 2026 · published 4 September 2026

Twice a year we publish every request for user information we receive from a government, court or law-enforcement body, and how we answered. This is the first report. It is short because the numbers are.

01Requests received

  • Judicial orders (Iraq) — 0 received · 0 complied with.
  • Non-judicial requests from Iraqi authorities — 0 received · 0 complied with.
  • Requests from foreign governments — 0 received · 0 complied with.
  • Emergency disclosure requests — 0 received.
  • Requests to remove or restrict content — 0 received.
  • Accounts affected by any of the above — 0.

We have never been asked to build, and have never built, any capability to intercept or decrypt user communications.

02How we handle a request

Article 40 of the Iraqi Constitution guarantees the confidentiality of communications and allows disclosure only by judicial decision, for legal and security necessity. We treat that as the floor, not the ceiling:

  • Every request goes to a named person responsible for legal review. Nothing is automated.
  • We require a binding order from a competent Iraqi court, issued under the Code of Criminal Procedure No. 23 of 1971. Letters, phone calls and informal requests are declined.
  • We check that the order names a specific account and a specific, lawful purpose. Bulk or open-ended requests are refused.
  • We disclose the narrowest possible set of data that satisfies the order.
  • Where the law allows, we notify the affected user.

03What we can hand over

Because of end-to-end encryption, the content of messages, voice notes, files and calls does not exist on our servers in readable form. Under a valid order the only categories we could produce are:

  • Phone number, display name, profile photo and "about" line.
  • Account creation date and last-seen date.
  • IP addresses and device metadata from recent connections (kept up to 12 months).
  • The phone numbers of accounts the user exchanged messages with, and timestamps — where still within our retention period.

What we cannot hand over, regardless of who asks: what anyone said.

04Requests from outside Iraq

Foreign authorities must proceed through the Iraqi judicial system and mutual legal assistance channels. We do not respond directly to foreign requests.

05Our commitments

  • Publish this report every six months, even when the numbers are zero.
  • Challenge orders that are overly broad or unlawful before the competent Iraqi courts.
  • Never introduce a backdoor, weaken encryption or silently change these commitments. If we are ever legally compelled to change them, this page will change first.

06Contact

Questions about this report: hello@ashlonk.com. Legal process must be served in writing to Ashlonk, Baghdad, Republic of Iraq.