U.S. Congress bans WhatsApp on official devices over security concerns

Employees of the U.S. House of Representatives have been officially banned from using WhatsApp on work-issued smartphones and computers.

As reported by Axios, the decision is based on cybersecurity concerns, with the messaging app labeled a high-risk application.

In a memo circulated on June 23, officials stated that WhatsApp lacks transparency in its data protection practices, fails to ensure secure encryption of stored information, and is potentially vulnerable from a security standpoint. Staff have been instructed to remove the app from all government-issued devices—both mobile and desktop versions.

This isn’t the first such measure: Congress previously banned TikTok and other apps tied to the Chinese company ByteDance. Restrictions have also extended to certain AI tools, including Microsoft’s Copilot, products from Chinese developer DeepSeek, and the free version of ChatGPT.