Meta has been cutting off Iranian accounts since last night from accessing Whatsapp, even for people outside of Iran. Until now, there is no clear technical explanation from their side.

When a US company acts in the interests or even as a proxy for the US government, can they still claim to be a private company when it comes to the rules they must follow?

It seems like even though Iran is Iran, once you act as an extension of the US government you should be open to the same standards of accountability. Otherwise, our government will just continue to outsource around their mandated oversight (for instance, see how the CIA uses foundations like the National Endowment for Democracy to accomplish this).

AFAICT it's unclear if this is true, but I am certainly hoping for the (apparently unlikely) possibility that there are officials in the USG that are willing and able to intervene domestically to prevent stuff like these allegations from happening because it seems like no other entity would be in a position to do so at any point in the next decade or so.