In a move to bolt the stable door, US House of Representatives staff must stop using WhatsApp, and switch to a more secure service like Apple's Messages.
It may seem as if the government prefers to make its messages insecure, but really it wants sending classified texts to journalists to be its decision, not a feature. According to the Financial Times, the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of the US House of Representatives has banned WhatsApp from June 30, 2025.
The instruction wasn't exactly sent around at the same moment WhatsApp owner Meta's Mark Zuckerberg was popping in to the White House. But he has been sucking up to Trump, perhaps to avoid repeating how in January 2025 he had to pay out millions to the president to settle a lawsuit.
So having the House put any limit on WhatsApp usage would surely rankle. But officially calling it "a high risk to users," must hurt.
"Protecting the people's House is our topmost priority," said House CAO Catherine Szpindor said in a statement, "and we are always monitoring and analyzing for potential cyber security risks that could endanger the data of House members and staff."
According to the email sent to staffers on June 23, 2025, the decision was taken because of "a lack of transparency in how [the app] protects user data, absence of stored data encryption, and potential security risks involved with its use."
That sounds pretty definitive and hard to argue with, but that doesn't mean Meta isn't trying. A spokesperson said that the company disagrees "in the strongest possible terms."
WhatsApp messages are "end to end encrypted by default," the spokesperson continued, before saying the app should remain on the approved list. Specifically, Meta says that WhatsApp is more secure than most of the approved apps.
It's difficult not to hear an unspoken "so there" at the end, but that approved list the spokesperson mentioned is interesting. It includes two Apple options, not just one — the House recommends Messages and FaceTime.
Feds preferred apps
As well as Apple's two, the House also approves of Microsoft Teams, Signal, and Wickr, which is Amazon's one that's so secure you've never heard of it. There are other internal secure messaging systems and apps that can be used, and it's not clear why they aren't at least mentioned, or in-place.
It's interesting that Meta can claim robust encryption and yet still can only say that it's more secure than some of the others. The spokesperson did not say which apps it claimed superiority over, but it won't have been Messages.
Szpindor did say that her team regularly reviews the security of various apps. While she did not mention a schedule, she did say that the list would be changed when her team believes an app merits inclusion.
In an unrelated move that will in no way change anything, Meta's chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth is about to get promoted to lieutenant colonel in the US Army Reserve's new Executive Innovation Corps.
Separately, WhatsApp finally launched a long-delayed native iPad app. But don't try to use it in the House of Representatives.
