Overview

• The ban covers all mobile, desktop and web versions of WhatsApp on House-managed devices.
• Staff who still have WhatsApp installed will be contacted and required to remove it from all House devices.
• The Office of Cybersecurity classified WhatsApp as high-risk due to lack of transparency in data handling and absence of stored-message encryption.
• Approved alternatives include Microsoft Teams, Wickr, Signal, iMessage and FaceTime for unclassified messaging.
• Meta argues that WhatsApp’s default end-to-end encryption offers stronger protection than many of the approved platforms.