Meta Platforms and senior officials at the US House of Representatives are on a collision course, after House staffers were instructed not to use WhatsApp.
CNBC, citing a report from Axios, reported that the chief administrative officer (CAO), of the US House of Representatives told staffers on Monday that they are not allowed to use Meta’s widely used messaging app WhatsApp.
Earlier this month the head of WhatsApp had strongly backed Apple in its legal battle with the UK government against what it is claims is a UK government order for a backdoor into iCloud accounts.
But now according to Axios report, the CAO at the U.S. House of Representatives has banned WhatsApp on official devices.
The CAO cited a lack of transparency about WhatsApp’s data privacy and security practices as the reason for the ban.
The CAO told House staff members in the email that they are not allowed to download WhatsApp on their government devices or access the app on their smartphones or desktop computers, the report said.
And staff members must also reportedly remove WhatsApp from their devices if they have the app installed on their devices.
But Meta is taking issue with the US House ban.
“We disagree with the House Chief Administrative Officer’s characterisation in the strongest possible terms,” tweeted Meta spokesperson Andy Stone in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “We know members and their staffs regularly use WhatsApp and we look forward to ensuring members of the House can join their Senate counterparts in doing so officially.”
Stone in another tweet also noted that “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.”
The Axios report also noted that that the House CAO does allow some acceptable alternatives to WhatsApp.
Acceptable messaging platforms on official devices include Microsoft Teams, Signal and Apple’s iMessage.
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