Members of the US House of Representatives banned from using WhatsApp

Members of the US House of Representatives have been banned from using WhatsApp on their devices. The letter the congressmen received states that the messenger, owned by Meta, may pose security risks, Reuters reports.

"Office of Cybersecurity has deemed WhatsApp a high risk to users 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 letter states.

Instead of using WhatsApp, which is the most popular messenger in the world and has been repeatedly targeted by attackers, congressmen are advised to use alternative platforms, including Teams, Wickr, Signal, or iMessage and FaceTime.

Meta disagrees with the decision to ban WhatsApp from the House of Representatives. A company spokesperson notes that WhatsApp offers a higher level of security than other government-approved apps.

At the same time, in January, a WhatsApp representative stated that the Israeli company Paragon Solutions used the Graphite spyware on more than 90 users of the messenger, including journalists and members of civil society.

At the same time, another Israeli company, NSO Group, was forced by a court in May 2025 to pay WhatsApp more than $167 million due to a spying attack carried out in 2019. Then, an audio call vulnerability was exploited, which affected thousands of users.

In addition, Meta is currently the target of a legal investigation by the US Federal Trade Commission, in which the tech giant is accused of monopoly and could be forced to sell Instagram and WhatsApp. A trial in this case is scheduled for July 2025.