US House of Representatives bans WhatsApp over privacy concerns

The U.S. House of Representatives has banned staff from using WhatsApp on official devices starting June 30 due to security and privacy concerns, the Financial Times reported, citing internal congressional communications.

House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor informed employees that WhatsApp is considered “high-risk.” Staff are required to delete the app from House-issued laptops and phones.

Meta, which owns WhatsApp, rejected the House’s assessment, stating that WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption by default and is more secure than many of the apps still approved by the House, including Microsoft Teams, Signal, iMessage, FaceTime, and Wickr.

WhatsApp remains permitted for official use in the U.S. Senate, according to Meta.