According to Axios, the U.S. House's Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) has issued a notice to all congressional staff banning the use of WhatsApp on government-issued mobile devices and computers, including mobile, desktop, and web versions.

The CAO stated that WhatsApp lacks transparency regarding data protection, does not encrypt user data, and has potential security vulnerabilities, making it a high-risk application. The office also cautioned congressional staff about potential phishing threats.

In contrast, applications such as Microsoft Teams, Signal, Wickr, iMessage, and FaceTime are deemed acceptable because they are mostly developed by American companies and have a certain level of government trust and security vetting. Meta responded strongly, disagreeing with the CAO's assessment and explaining that WhatsApp has fully implemented end-to-end encryption, ensuring that neither Meta nor the server retains plaintext information during transmission, emphasizing that its security standards exceed those of many accepted applications.

Meta also noted that many congressional members and their staff still rely heavily on WhatsApp for daily communication and expressed hope that the U.S. House would align with the Senate’s views and reconsider its policy on WhatsApp use.

In addition to WhatsApp, the U.S. House has been tightening regulations on various high-risk applications, including bans on TikTok, ChatGPT, DeepSeek, and Microsoft Copilot, reflecting a heightened concern for information security and data sovereignty within U.S. government agencies.