Germany's data chief tells ministries WhatsApp is a no-go
This is part of a broader problem.<p>Many &quot;apps&quot; from  WhatsApp to Zoom are treated as public spaces by citizens. But, legally the app-space is closer to a private space. This creates a mismatch between reality and expectations. (Zuckerberg can delete his chat history and you could not until Europe passed legislation forcing Facebook to do so.)<p>I suffered the &quot;Windows only&quot; of gubernamental applications that excluded Linux users from using them. I see a new wave of iPhone&#x2F;Android apps, WhatsApp&#x2F;Twitter official accounts, etc. creating the same monopolistic synergy where the government decides what apps the citizens have to install and what Operating Systems to use. The abuse of monopolies is not fight against but government officials take sides and choose which monopolies to grow.<p>Finally, a point missed in the comments: WhatsApp is an American company. The misalignment between Europe and the USA has grown the recent years meanwhile the technological dependence of Europe towards the USA has increased. That will not end well. The USA is in a position to shutdown all the technological infrastructure of Europe (AWS, Google, Facebook, Azure, ...) and to openly spy its citizens. When the two blocks were in more friendly terms that was seen as acceptable, today that is creating an uneasy feeling.<p>As an European citizen I do not feel safe with such an American oversight of my private and job-related activities. And, this is the most important point, when citizens feel threatened they will react or over-react to the situation. The USA has not been a trustworthy partner for some time. And ,the rise of TikTok and other Chinese apps are bringing that fear to public attention.<p>The solution is trivially easy and has existed for long: open standards. Mail has been around as long as the Internet and proven its value, the same applies to the World Wide Web. The only reason for the rise of apps is that companies see them as a good way of lock-in customers, gather data and increase influence. All that reasons are bad for the economy, for the freedom of countries and individuals. Open standards should be pushed as a leveling field for competing companies, as a form to increase freedom of expressions and communication and to avoid single-points-of-faiulre that risk big parts of the economy.<p>I hope for a return to sanity and open standards. The alternative is heavy regulated monopolies, no government is going to allow this situation to go for long, like the telecommunications industry. And, that does not work so well.