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Meta has found itself in a tricky situation as a recent US House order bans of WhatsApp from government devices. According to a report by Axios, US congressional staffers have been ordered not to use WhatsApp on government devices. The decision comes just a week after Meta introduced ads to WhatsApp.
US House bans WhatsApp mobile and web app from all government devices citing security concerns
Today, the US House of Representatives’ chief administrative officer (CAO) reportedly informed workers about the ban on WhatsApp. As part of the ban, workers can’t use the WhatsApp web and mobile app in any of the government-managed devices.
The news outlet reported that a part of the email sent by US House’s CAO reads, “The Office of Cybersecurity has deemed WhatsApp a high risk to users due to the lack of transparency in how it protects user data, absence of stored data encryption and potential security risks involved with its use.”
Interestingly, the report suggests that Microsoft Teams, Wickr, Signal, iMessage and FaceTime are acceptable alternatives. Besides, the CAO has also asked US government workers to remain vigilant about potential phishing scams.
Meta, understandably, isn’t very happy with the decision to ban WhatsApp on US government devices. The company’s spokesperson, Andy Stone, slammed the decision on X. In a post on X, Stone wrote, “We disagree with the House Chief Administrative Officer’s characterization in the strongest possible terms.”
Stone further criticized the chosen alternatives by writing, “Messages on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted by default, meaning only the recipients and not even WhatsApp can see them. This is a higher level of security than most of the apps on the CAO’s approved list that do not offer that protection.“
Well, the ban on WhatsApp from US government devices isn’t just a single instance. The US House’s CAO has previously deemed other apps risky as well. That list includes some popular generative AI tools, such as Copilot, ChatGPT, and DeepSeek. Not to forget, Biden-led government previously passed an act to ban TikTok from goverment devices as well.
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