Washington, D.C.: The U.S. House of Representatives banned congressional staff with government-issued devices from using popular messaging app WhatsApp, responding to security and privacy concerns. In a memo to the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of the House, it was announced that the ban would take effect immediately on House-managed devices, including mobile phones, desktop PCs, and web pages.
The House Office of Cybersecurity deemed WhatsApp a “high-risk” platform because of its “lack of transparency around how it protects user data, the lack of stored data encryption, and the potential security risks associated with its use”, according to the memo. Staffers were also asked to remove the app from personal devices used for work-related activities, and an email will follow if they still have it installed.
It recommended other messaging services considered safe alternatives, including Microsoft Teams, Amazon’s Wickr, Signal, Apple’s iMessage, and FaceTime. It also warned staffers to be aware of phishing attempts and texts from unknown numbers.
“Unfortunately, we must issue this mandate to protect the security of our systems and to keep us from becoming vulnerable to threats,” the CAO wrote in the memo.
WhatsApp’s parent company, Meta, condemned the ban. “We strongly disagree with the House Chief Administrative Officer’s characterisation in the strongest possible terms,” spokesperson Andy Stone told Axios. “By default, messages sent on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted so only the sender and receiver can see them. That’s a higher level of security than most of the apps on the CAO’s approved list,” he said.
“We hope that the House will reconsider its position and follow the Senate’s lead by not imposing a blanket ban on WhatsApp, which serves as an important communications tool for the House community,” he added.
The House has previously restricted apps on government-issued devices. TikTok was banned last year due to concerns over its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, in 2022, and AI tools like DeepSeek and ChatGPT were restricted to their paid versions in January due to the same security concerns.
WhatsApp also reported in January that Israel’s spyware company, Paragon Solutions, targeted scores of its users, including journalists, prompting a cease-and-desist order.
Other countries, like Iran, are also asking citizens to delete WhatsApp, citing sensitive data leaks during its current war with Israel. Though the platform boasts strong encryption, metadata collection and unencrypted cloud backups have raised privacy concerns, leading some to note that the data could be used to paint a picture of user behaviour.
“This security warning shows that U.S. lawmakers are serious about cybersecurity, and there may be more government agencies that will evaluate third-party applications on a more regular basis,” Schellman told The Record.
WhatsApp and Meta are expected to continue pushing for its use on House-issued devices, but the decision still raises questions about whether or not the trade-off between convenience and