WhatsApp Ban on Scottish Officials: Implications for Government Communications
Jakarta,knowyouridol.com Indonesia –Scotland to ban government officials from using WhatsApp and personal mobile phones to ‘carry out official duties’
The policy was announced by Scotland’s Deputy First Minister, Kate Forbes, on Tuesday (17/12).
Forbes said all WhatsApp messaging services will be banned from being used by government officials in the country starting in the spring of 2025.
The policy was introduced after the Scottish government discovered that many officials were deleting WhatsApp messages during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At that time, WhatsApp messaging services increased because many officials were working from home.
“The use of mobile messaging apps has increased during the pandemic as staff work remotely in unprecedented and challenging circumstances,” Forbes said, as reported by Sky News .
“After reflecting on our working practices, we are now implementing changes to the use of mobile messaging apps,” Forbes continued.
However, Scotland will continue to allow officials to use government-approved messaging apps, such as Teams and Email.
All of these messaging apps can be used by Scottish government officials to communicate about work.
Scottish officials themselves are encouraged to apply “standards of openness, transparency and accountability” when carrying out their duties.
Therefore, deleting WhatsApp messages, which often occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, is considered a violation because it is feared that the messages contain important or even negative things.
On this matter, several Scottish officials have said that all the messages deleted on the WhatsApp application on their phones were not related to work at all.
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