Iraq Brings Forward Waze Ban to December 2026
“We have decided to revoke our previous decision to ban the Waze app at the start of 2027 and instead move the effective date of the ban to the end of next December,” Sanad said.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Iraqi Communications Minister Mustafa Sanad announced on Tuesday that the government has brought forward the planned ban on the Waze navigation application, with the ban now set to take effect at the end of December 2026.
Sanad said the decision reverses the previously announced timeline, under which the ban was scheduled to begin at the start of 2027.
“We have decided to revoke our previous decision to ban the Waze app at the start of 2027 and instead move the effective date of the ban to the end of next December,” Sanad said.
The minister did not provide further details on the reasons for bringing forward the ban or explain how it would be implemented.
Waze is a GPS navigation application owned by Google that relies heavily on real-time, user-generated information. Drivers can report traffic congestion, road hazards, accidents, speed cameras and other incidents, allowing the app to update routes and suggest alternatives based on changing road conditions.
Unlike conventional navigation services that primarily rely on pre-mapped road data, Waze uses reports from its community of drivers to provide live information and automatically recalculate routes.
The application is widely used for navigating urban roads and congested routes, particularly because of its real-time traffic updates and alerts.