Jun 24, Kathmandu- Whatsapp has been banned from all devices in the House of Representatives, the lower house of the US Parliament.

This information was provided in a memo sent to all parliament staff on Monday.

The memo states that the Office of Cybersecurity concluded that Whatsapp lacked transparency about user data protection, encryption of stored data, and potential security risks associated with using the app.

The memo, sent by the House Chief Administrative Officer, suggests using Microsoft's Teams, Amazon's Wickr, Signal, and Apple's iMessage and FaceTime as alternatives to Whatsapp.

Whatsapp's parent company, Meta, has disagreed with the US Congress' move. A Meta spokesperson said that WhatsApp offers higher security than other apps.

Whatsapp admitted in January that Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions had targeted its users.

The US Congress has previously banned other apps on its staff devices. In 2022, the US Congress banned TikTok, citing security concerns.