Iranians in L.A. turn to WhatsApp, Fox News, for updates on loved ones

As the United States and Israel continue to bomb Iran, Iranian Angelenos turn to a patchwork of communications apps, social media and cable news for updates on loved ones nearly 7,500 miles away.

The Times spoke to several people in the ‘Tehrangeles’ district of Westwood (the epicenter of Los Angeles’ expanding Iranian diaspora) this week, and they continued to chime in. mix of anxiety and happiness Following the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. While many said they relied on apps such as Telegram and WhatsApp to receive messages from family and friends in Tehran and other parts of the country, many others said they turned to Fox News for the latest updates.

Internet access in Iran is tightly controlled by the government, which operates one of the most restrictive online censorship systems in the world. Internet traffic is routed through state-controlled infrastructure, which allows authorities to monitor usage and block thousands of websites, including social media platforms, international news outlets and messaging apps.

But people find ways to do this.

Many use some form of “filter shekan,” a term used in Iran for virtual private networks, circumvention apps, and other tools that can bypass internet filters and access websites blocked by the government. Some use an Android app that allows users outside the country to act as relays, allowing people inside Iran to route calls and messages over an external internet connection and bypass government filtering. Others still use landlines, which can work when the internet goes out but are believed to be monitored by authorities.

Charlene Laurent is an Iranian social media influencer In Los Angeles, he noted, most filter-breaking tools are costly, which means some people don’t have access to them. On Thursday, he spoke at a meeting of about 100 Iranians outside the Israeli consulate on Wilshire Boulevard, where he came to express his gratitude to President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their military action.

When the internet was stable in Iran, Laurent said his cousins ​​in Tehran sometimes called him via WhatsApp, but they preferred Telegram because encrypted messages could be easily deleted. He said the permanent deletion was necessary because authorities recently broke into a home in his cousin’s neighborhood, seized the man’s phone and accused him of being an American spy.

“People tell me I’m very brave for speaking out against this because I get so many death threats, but that’s nothing compared to what they’re doing in Iran,” Laurent said.

Iranian academic Mehrzad Boroujerdi said this is a risk many people are ready to take.

“This fear is always there, but the need for communication is so great that people are using these apps to communicate with each other,” said co-founder Boroujerdi. Iran Data Portal In a phone interview with the dean of the College of Arts, Sciences and Education at Syracuse University and Missouri University of Science and Technology.

“Of course, the government is very opposed to this, so they want to shut down the internet to prevent any mobilization, or for example, they want to prevent the government from sending video clips that it deems inappropriate to foreign TV channels broadcasting in Iran,” he said. “This is part of the ongoing censorship war.”

As for his family in Los Angeles, Laurent said they tend to gravitate towards Fox News because “CNN is, I’m sorry, fake news.” That’s because he doesn’t think the footage on CNN directly matches the videos he’s seen from people in Iran.

He’s not the only one who says he turns to conservative cable news network Fox for the latest updates.

“I’m addicted to Fox 24/7,” said Shahram Elyaszadeh, a 66-year-old Iranian who has lived in the United States since 1979 and runs a mortgage banking office on Wilshire Boulevard.

“Fox is the most reliable,” said Ryan Ghasemi, 56, who recently moved here from Canada. “We do not trust left-wing media like CNN and BBC; in Iran they actually call the BBC ‘Ayatollah BBC’” because they think it is sympathetic to the government.

Ghasemi said he talks to his brother in Iran almost every day via WhatsApp, which his brother accesses through paid software to bypass government filters. “It’s not easy, it’s not fast, but at least we can talk and receive messages,” he said.

David Taheri, 53, said he has family in Tehran and Ahvaz, including his mother and siblings. Within a few days he was unable to reach any of them directly, but he was able to hear from a friend asking him to contact his family and confirm their safety as if playing a game of telephone. Most of these updates come via WhatsApp, but sometimes they also come from Telegram, he said.

He added that he, too, preferred Fox News “because they are against the Islamic Republic.”

Iranian academic Boroujerdi said the Fox preference was in line with broader trends.

“A large percentage of the Iranian expatriate community, especially in places like Los Angeles, consider themselves monarchists; they oppose the Islamic republic and support the son of the exiled shah. [Reza Pahlavi]”And so they see CNN, BCC, etc. as TV channels that are not sympathetic to their cause,” he said. “And so in terms of American media stations, they’ve turned to Fox News.”

Some people also turn to foreign news channels based in London Iran InternationalIt was broadcast via satellite, online broadcast and social media in the United States and Iran, he said. Others are “addicted” to social media apps like TikTok and Instagram because “everyone is hungry to find stories about what is happening to their family and relatives within the country and also to follow the course of events.”

After the bombing began, 42-year-old Mehrnoosh Arabestani said she could not reach her cousins ​​in Qom, Iran, for five days because communications were cut off. He was relieved when they finally got a call and told him they were safe, that they were actually happy the regime was gone.

Ali Javahery, who helped organize the event with the Hambastegi group at the consulate on Thursday, wore a “Make Iran Great Again” hat and said one of the problems he hoped the war would solve was communication.

A sign shows President Trump and Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu during a public show of support for the war in Iran at the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles on March 5, 2026.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

“We want the United States and Israel to help us communicate with our loved ones,” he said. “They don’t have internet there. They want to communicate with us. We are at the mercy of everything available. We need the United States to open broadcast channels to them.”

But while he was celebrating on Wilshire Boulevard, others in the neighborhood said the war had placed a heavy burden on them. Mohammad Ghafarian, owner of Shater Abbass Bakery & Market on Westwood Boulevard, said he had no way of reaching his family in Tehran or Mashhad.

“I am happy for the overthrow of the Ayatollah and for freedom,” he said. “But there is still war and I worry about my family, I hope the US doesn’t bomb civilians, and I hope it ends soon.”

He said that before the bombing began, Ghafarian usually spoke on the phone with his family every week or two and with his friend there every few days. He said he now primarily follows Instagram and watches every news channel, including CNN, CNBC and Fox, for updates.

“I watch them all,” he said.