The House of Representatives has banned staff members from using WhatsApp on government equipment, According to a report from Axis, In an email viewed by the outlet, the House Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) told the employees that the Cyber ​​Security Office has “considered WhatsApp a high-risk risk”, as it is a lack of transparency in the absence of user data, the absence of data, the absence of data encryption and the safety of potential safety risks.

Email states that Congress employees cannot download or use WhatsApp’s mobile, desktop or web browser version on any government device. “If you have a WhatsApp application on your home-based device, you will be approached to remove it,” reads the email.

Meta Director Andy Stone pushed back against the decision In a post on XSaying that the company disagrees with the characterization of the CAO of WhatsApp “in the strongest possible words.” Stone says that messages on WhatsApp have been defaulted by end-to-end encryption, which means the third party-not even the meta, who owns the platform-can read them. “This is a high level of protection compared to most apps in the approved list of CAO that does not offer that security,” Stone writes.

As noted MentorThe CAO’s message to the employees recommended that they use other apps for communication instead, such as Microsoft Team, Signal, IMESSAGE, FACETIME, or Amazon -owned messaging service Vikra. CAO did not respond immediately RuckusRequest for more information.