๐ซ ๐จ.๐ฆ. ๐๐ผ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐ก๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐๐๐๐ฝ๐ฝ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐
๐ต The U.S. House of Representatives has officially banned WhatsApp from all government-managed devices due to data security concerns.
๐ The Office of Cybersecurity said WhatsApp is โhigh riskโ because of its lack of transparency in how it protects user dataโdespite being end-to-end encrypted.
๐ฉโ๐ผ The ban means all staffers must remove WhatsApp from House phones, desktops, and browsers. If itโs detected, theyโll be contacted to delete it.
๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐น๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ด๐ด๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฑ:
Microsoft Teams
Apple iMessage / FaceTime
Amazon Wickr
Signal
๐ฃ WhatsApp Responds:
Metaโs Andy Stone pushed back, saying:
โWhatsApp is more secure than most apps on the approved list. Even we canโt read users' messages.โ
But officials aren't convinced โ especially after spyware reports.
๐ต๏ธ Spyware Concerns:
In January, Paragon Solutions spyware targeted ~100 WhatsApp users (including journalists). The malware, โGraphite,โ let hackers access encrypted messages once installed โ raising major trust and safety questions.
โ ๏ธ Not the First Ban:
This move follows previous bans by the House on:
TikTok & other ByteDance apps
Microsoft Copilot AI
DeepSeek AI tools
๐บ๐ธ The U.S. government is also tightening AI usage policies, especially around data privacy and cloud security.
Bottom Line:
The U.S. House is getting tougher on apps seen as risky, especially those tied to foreign software or AI tools that could expose internal data.