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- US Chief Administrative Officer confirms conference-wide WhatsApp-Ban
- Data transparency and coding are among the most important concerns
- Meta says it does not agree “in the strongest possible terms”
The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of the American House has banned WhatsApp Of all government equipment used by congress employees in the midst of growing safety problems.
A Axios Report claims that the warning mentioned a lack of transparency about data protection as an important motivation behind the prohibition, while also notices the absence of stored data coding, which increases potential security risks related to the use of WhatsApp.
The prohibition affects all versions of WhatsApp, including the mobile app, desktop app and web browser versions.
American congress workers asked to remove WhatsApp
Employees with WhatsApp on home -managed devices are contacted to remove the app, according to the report.
Although technical forbidden is nothing new for US government workers, most related to constant geopolitical tensions – Deepseek and Bytedance are two Chinese platforms that are forbidden. However, employees are also limited to use Microsoft Copilot, and only certain paid versions of chatgpt can be used.
“The Office of Cyber Security has considered WhatsApp as a high risk for users due to the lack of transparency in the way Axios.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone challenged the conference ban of WhatsApp, wrestle On X: “We know that members and their staff regularly use WhatsApp and we look forward to ensuring that members of the house can officially join their senate bands.”
“We do not agree with the characterization of the Chief Administrative Officer in the strongest possible conditions.”
Stone also noted that WhatsApp messages are standard and end-to-end coded, which is more than can be said about a number of other CAO approved apps.
Although one communication platform is forbidden, the collective agreement explained that other alternatives remain viable, including Microsoft teams, WICKR, Signal, Imessage and Facetime.
The news comes shortly after the Scottish government has also forbidden WhatsApp (instead prefer certain Enterprise Messages -Apps), but that step relates to the removal of messages by employees, as emphasized in the COVID research.
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