Members of the US House of Representatives have been officially banned from using WhatsApp on official devices. About this informs Reuters.
The corresponding letter, which was sent to congressmen, stated that the messenger, which is owned by the company Meta, poses a potential threat to cyber security.
“The Office of Cyber Security has determined that WhatsApp may pose high risks to the security of users due to a lack of transparency regarding data protection, lack of encryption of stored data, and other potential risks associated with its use.” – says the document.
Instead of WhatsApp, which, despite its popularity, has repeatedly been the target of cyberattacks, congressmen are advised to look to safer alternatives such as Teams, Wickr, Signal, as well as iMessage and FaceTime.
Meta does not agree with this assessment. A company representative emphasizes that WhatsApp offers a higher level of security than other government-approved applications. Meta is currently the subject of an antitrust investigation by the US Federal Trade Commission. As part of this process, the company may be required to sell Instagram and WhatsApp. Court hearings in this case are scheduled for July 2025.
We will remind, in January 2025, a representative of WhatsApp reported that the Israeli company Paragon Solutions used the Graphite spy software to monitor more than 90 users of the messenger, including journalists and activists.
NSO Group, another Israeli developer, was ordered by a court in May 2025 to pay more than $167 million to WhatsApp in connection with a hacking attack that took place back in 2019 that exploited an audio call vulnerability that affected thousands of users.
