US Home reportedly bans WhatsApp on authorities gadgets

US congressional staffers have reportedly been advised that they are now not allowed to make use of on authorities gadgets. The Home of Representatives’ chief administrative officer (CAO) is claimed to have knowledgeable employees on Monday that the app — together with the cellular, desktop and web-based variations — just isn’t permitted on Home-managed gadgets.

“The Workplace of Cybersecurity has deemed WhatsApp a excessive danger to customers as a result of lack of transparency in the way it protects person knowledge, absence of saved knowledge encryption and potential safety dangers concerned with its use,” the CAO wrote in an e mail, based on . Microsoft Groups, Wickr, Sign (regardless of how straightforward it may be to accidentally invite a reporter to a sensitive group chat), iMessage and FaceTime have been reportedly cited as acceptable options, and the CAO reminded employees to be vigilant relating to potential phishing scams.

“We disagree with the Home Chief Administrative Officer’s characterization within the strongest doable phrases,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone . “We all know members and their staffs frequently use WhatsApp and we sit up for making certain members of the Home can be part of their Senate counterparts in doing so formally. Messages on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted by default, which means solely the recipients and never even WhatsApp can see them. It is a greater stage of safety than many of the apps on the CAO’s authorized record that don’t supply that safety.”

The step follows limitations on congressional staffers’ use of different apps (together with generative AI ones) that the CAO has deemed to be dangerous. These embrace , , DeepSeek (which some states and federal departments have additionally ) and .