European Civil Servants Are Being Forced Off WhatsApp

"c0lo" writes:

Governments want to move away from "platforms over which we have no control," says Dutch minister:

Governments in France, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium have started rolling out in-house messaging services for officials to exchange sensitive information, in an effort to stop staff from using popular encrypted apps and switch to local alternatives they can control. Defense alliance NATO also has its own messenger, and the European Commission plans to make the switch by the end of the year.

The move toward government-controlled messaging apps is part of Europe's search for alternatives to American technology, sparked by fears of being strategically dependent on Washington. WhatsApp is owned by U.S. tech giant Meta, while Signal is run by a U.S.-based non-profit and managed by a large community of open-source software enthusiasts.

The effort to unplug from American companies also reflects growing recognition among governments of the vulnerabilities of mainstream messaging apps for sharing sensitive information between politicians.

"Our communication currently often takes place via platforms over which we have no control," Willemijn Aerdts, the Netherlands' digital minister, told POLITICO in a statement. "In a world where technology is increasingly being used as a tool of power, that poses a risk."

Brandon De Waele, the director of Belgian Secure Communications, the Belgian federal government agency in charge of its new secure app, said: "Everyone in Europe is getting more and more awake on sovereignty ... For us it's data sovereignty."

WhatsApp and Signal have faced cybersecurity challenges in recent weeks. Last month, dozens of cybersecurity agencies warned that Russian hacking groups were targeting political and government officials on the messengers with high-level phishing attacks.

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