Morocco Bans WhatsApp and Facebook for Interior Ministry Officials Over Security Concerns

The warning was recently addressed by the ministry to all officials, whether Walis, central directors or others, reporting to them an express prohibition on the use of all electronic messaging such as Messenger and WhatsApp and strongly advising them to use their professional email in case of exchange of data and documents.

For the ministry, using electronic messaging to share documents can be grounds for disciplinary action by the administration and every civil servant must therefore scrupulously respect the new directives.

If the Ministry of the Interior has sent this circular to its executives, it is because it has been found in the past that several confidential documents that could harm the image of the administration have been leaked. Moreover, these applications are not known for the protection of data shared by users, let alone administrations.

Last month, highly confidential documents were found with a gold nugget seller in Salé. These concerned internal correspondence between two ministries following a request to postpone a visit by the Mauritanian Minister of Petroleum.