Whatsapp banned on all devices of US House of Representatives
All members of the United States House of Representatives will now have to say goodbye to their group chats, as the government has now banned popular messaging app WhatsApp on every single device.
Security should always remain one of the highest priorities for anyone working in government, especially when it comes to discussing official activity and sharing potentially classified information.
It's never been easier to chat to people across the web though as you can head to social media or the numerous dedicated messaging apps to speak to whoever you want, no matter where they are in the world.
Understandably that does raise concerns about government activity though, and the US government has now issued a shocking mandate that officially bans the use of WhatsApp on any device, including personal gadgets, for all members of the House of Representatives.
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As reported by the Guardian, the ruling was made public through a memo from the House's chief administrative officer, outlining that 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."
WhatsApp has always claimed to offer security levels above its rivals, with end-to-end encryption protecting your messages from being intercepted by an outside source, yet that's seemingly far from enough for the government.
While the ruling is surprising to the extent that it reaches, what's shocking is what the memo suggests people use instead. It urges people to opt for Microsoft's Teams, Amazon's Wickr, Signal, and Apple's iMessage and Facetime.
Signal in particular is a notable suggestion considering its central role in another government messaging controversy earlier this year, where a journalist was accidentally added to a group chat seemingly discussing confidential war plans.
Meta has spoken out against the ruling, declaring: "We disagree with the House Chief Administrative Officer's characterization in the strongest possible terms. 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 officially doing so.
"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," a Meta spokesperson argued.
Perhaps the best option for the future will be Twitter founder Jack Dorsey's new platform 'bitchat', which utilizes Bluetooth Low Energy for a supposedly direct peer-to-peer messaging service, although it's not without its own issues so far.