Meta’s popular messaging app, WhatsApp, has been banned from the U.S. House of Representatives, the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Catherine Szpindor told staff there on Monday.
“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,” the email said, seen by Axios.
Related: Microsoft Employees Are Banned From Using This Popular AI App
The note said the app is banned from all government devices, including phones and computers.
“House staff are NOT allowed to download or keep the WhatsApp application on any House device, including any mobile, desktop, or web browser versions of its products,” the email added. “If you have a WhatsApp application on your House-managed device, you will be contacted to remove it.”
Meanwhile, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone responded on X that the tech giant disagrees “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 doing so officially,” Stone wrote.
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.
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) June 23, 2025
“Messages on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted by default, meaning only the recipients and not even WhatsApp can see them,” Stone added. “This is a higher level of security than most of the apps on the CAO’s approved list that do not offer that protection.”
Szpindor told CNBC in a written statement that “protecting the People’s House is our topmost priority,” and this was enacted after “monitoring and analyzing for potential cybersecurity risks that could endanger the data of House Members and staff.”
It’s not the first tech ban that the CAO has enacted, either. ChatGPT is restricted, and there have been full and partial bans on several tools and apps, including DeepSeek, TikTok, and Microsoft Copilot.
Meta’s popular messaging app, WhatsApp, has been banned from the U.S. House of Representatives, the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Catherine Szpindor told staff there on Monday.
“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,” the email said, seen by Axios.
Related: Microsoft Employees Are Banned From Using This Popular AI App
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