The Nigerian House of Representatives has officially prohibited the use of WhatsApp on government-issued devices, citing data privacy risks and cybersecurity threats. The ban, announced in a memo to all lawmakers and staff, takes immediate effect as part of a broader effort to secure sensitive government communications.
According to a memo sent to all House staff on Monday the “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 memo, from the chief administrative officer, recommended using other messaging apps, including Microsoft Corp’s (MSFT.O) opens new tab Teams platform, Amazon.com’s (AMZN.O) opens new tab Wickr, Signal, and Apple’s (AAPL.O) opens new tab iMessage and FaceTime.
Meanwhile, Meta responded strongly to the decision. “We disagree with this decision in the strongest possible terms,” a spokesperson for the company said, adding that WhatsApp “provides a higher level of security than the other approved apps.”
Recall that in January, a WhatsApp official said Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions had targeted scores of its users, including journalists and members of civil society.
Also, recall that the House has banned other apps from staff devices in the past, including the short video app TikTok in 2022 due to security issues.
