04:38 PM EDT, 06/23/2025 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with US chief administrative officer's response in the sixth and seventh paragraphs.)

The chief administrative officer of the US House has informed congressional staffers that Meta's (META) messaging app WhatsApp is now banned on their government devices, Axios reported Monday, citing an email by the CAO.

The Office of Cybersecurity deemed WhatsApp a high risk "due to the lack of transparency in how it protects user data, absence of stored data encryption, and potential security risks involved with its use," the email was quoted as saying.

Staffers who already have the app installed on their devices will be contacted to remove it, according to the email, Axios said.

"We disagree with the House Chief Administrative Officer's characterization in the strongest possible terms," a WhatsApp spokesperson told MT Newswires. "We know members and their staffs regularly use WhatsApp, and we look forward to ensuring members of the House can join their Senate counterparts in doing so officially."

The spokesperson added that WhatsApp messages are protected by default with end-to-end encryption, meaning only the sender and recipient can read them, not even WhatsApp itself. "This is a higher level of security than most of the apps on the CAO's approved list that do not offer that protection."

In an email response, CAO Catherine Szpindor told MT Newswires that safeguarding the People's House is its topmost priority.

"We are always monitoring and analyzing for potential cybersecurity risks that could endanger the data of House Members and staff. We routinely review the list of House-authorized apps and will amend the list as deemed appropriate," Szpindor said.

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