Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

politico.eu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 93 posts

Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

#51

Post by palata »

spwa4 wrote: post #5

The problem with these efforts is always the same: organizations make their own messenger, and the fact that these organizations then have control over their own messenger ... means their employees won't use it. And that's ignoring that you can bet your firstborn they cut corners developing these messengers, so they're not pleasant to use to boot. In 2026 you still hear complaints of government employees that they on…

Well, on the work messenger, you talk about work.

For private discussions, you do that on your private device, with a private messenger.

I would say that the digital sovereignty is more about "Entity X doesn't want the US to have access to all of their internal communications". Typically a non-US company or a non-US government should care about that.

Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

#52

Post by palata »

gretch wrote: post #8
spwa4 wrote: post #5

The problem with these efforts is always the same: organizations make their own messenger, and the fact that these organizations then have control over their own messenger ... means their employees won't use it. And that's ignoring that you can bet your firstborn they cut corners developing these messengers, so they're not pleasant to use to boot. In 2026 you still hear complaints of government employees that they on…

I've always found it ironic that people who distrust software from Mark Zuckerberg instead trust software from... 3 guys in a garage. "Those 3 guys in a garage would never sell us out! They are paragons of virtue!"

It's more trusting something you can audit and control (e.g. open source) vs trusting something you cannot audit and control (e.g. proprietary service by BigTech).

Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

#53

Post by TacticalCoder »

hackerbeat wrote: post #6

Good. The US is gone.

> Good. The US is gone.

Yeah. But then the EU lost the plot a very long time ago. There is one EU company in the 50 of the world by companies market cap. One. Just freaking one. It's ASML.

From 2008 to today, in USD and inflation adjusted, the eurozone saw no growth. While both the US and China skyrocketed.

There's been this little thing lately that kinda took off: it's called AI. Where's the EU? How much of a leader was the EU in this AI revolution?

Explain how the EU is not long gone?

The EU is not even sinking at this point: it sank years ago. And it's busy making sure it's turning into the third-world.

I'm in the EU and honestly it's more than frightening.

Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

#54

Post by themafia »

> “Everyone in Europe is getting more and more awake on sovereignty ... For us it’s data sovereignty.”

If Julian Assange wasn't the wakeup call necessary to put this into action then I don't think the whims of a few government ministers amount to a hill of beans.

Good luck.

Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

#55

Post by pesus »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #43
throwa356262 wrote: post #2

Governments want to move away from “platforms over which we have no control,” says Dutch minister. Sure, that is fair enough. But why is EU not setting up their own servers for whisper or activity pub or whatever OSS protocols and just make that their only official and approved communication channel?

The problem isn't setting up the servers, they already exist for the most part. It is getting anyone to use them. I've seen this play out a few times in Europe. People are extremely resistant to giving up WhatsApp. These rules are so widely flouted that no one takes them seriously, including the people making the rules. It is a bit of theater, meanwhile everyone continues to use WhatsApp. There is no will to actually…

Maybe I'm just too American to understand, but it still baffles me that WhatsApp is used for business purposes. It makes a lot more sense for regular personal messaging, but it seems incredibly unprofessional to me. I would think it bizarre and a bit invasive if my boss tried to text or iMessage me. Are they at least using different accounts for work messaging?

Not to mention the app itself was pretty mediocre last time I used it, but that's neither here nor there...

Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

#56

Post by Yaa101 »

I understand the move but I also see bears on the road. When the politicians control their communication apps then it is sooner or later also very convenient for politicians to ask the operators to disappear conversations that shouldn't have taken place or conversations that somehow are political liabilities.

Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

#57

Post by tremon »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #53
hackerbeat wrote: post #6

Good. The US is gone.

> Good. The US is gone. Yeah. But then the EU lost the plot a very long time ago. There is one EU company in the 50 of the world by companies market cap. One. Just freaking one. It's ASML. From 2008 to today, in USD and inflation adjusted, the eurozone saw no growth. While both the US and China skyrocketed. There's been this little thing lately that kinda took off: it's called AI. Where's the EU? How much of a leader…

What's frightening to me is that even in the EU people seem to think that unchecked consolidation of services is a good thing. I don't think it is a good thing at all that there exist companies with a budget larger than an average country.

Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

#58

Post by IG_Semmelweiss »

pesus wrote: post #55
jandrewrogers wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem isn't setting up the servers, they already exist for the most part. It is getting anyone to use them. I've seen this play out a few times in Europe. People are extremely resistant to giving up WhatsApp. These rules are so widely flouted that no one takes them seriously, including the people making the rules. It is a bit of theater, meanwhile everyone continues to use WhatsApp. There is no will to actually…

Maybe I'm just too American to understand, but it still baffles me that WhatsApp is used for business purposes. It makes a lot more sense for regular personal messaging, but it seems incredibly unprofessional to me. I would think it bizarre and a bit invasive if my boss tried to text or iMessage me. Are they at least using different accounts for work messaging? Not to mention the app itself was pretty mediocre last t…

most of the world is using WA for biz. US is an outlier

Most biz dont have the kind of money to hand over to Goog workspace or M$. therefore, you get what its free, and thats WA biz

Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

#59

Post by posperson »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #53
hackerbeat wrote: post #6

Good. The US is gone.

> Good. The US is gone. Yeah. But then the EU lost the plot a very long time ago. There is one EU company in the 50 of the world by companies market cap. One. Just freaking one. It's ASML. From 2008 to today, in USD and inflation adjusted, the eurozone saw no growth. While both the US and China skyrocketed. There's been this little thing lately that kinda took off: it's called AI. Where's the EU? How much of a leader…

Economically the EU might not keep pace, but the built infrastructure to live an enjoyable life is there.

I certainly had a delightful time visiting the winter markets across Europe, and it seemed like there were a fair number of people living well.

While the Eurozone might not be a great place to start a new business it is still a going concern, enough that those top 50 companies all have a European presence.

Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

#60

Post by Spooky23 »

pesus wrote: post #55
jandrewrogers wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem isn't setting up the servers, they already exist for the most part. It is getting anyone to use them. I've seen this play out a few times in Europe. People are extremely resistant to giving up WhatsApp. These rules are so widely flouted that no one takes them seriously, including the people making the rules. It is a bit of theater, meanwhile everyone continues to use WhatsApp. There is no will to actually…

Maybe I'm just too American to understand, but it still baffles me that WhatsApp is used for business purposes. It makes a lot more sense for regular personal messaging, but it seems incredibly unprofessional to me. I would think it bizarre and a bit invasive if my boss tried to text or iMessage me. Are they at least using different accounts for work messaging? Not to mention the app itself was pretty mediocre last t…

Alot of people use iMessage or WhatsApp for out of band messaging.

The global usage is nuts. All of my Indian friends live on WhatsApp even if they are iPhone users. When I was in Portugal and Spain recently it’s literally the way businesses work.

Plus, you’re out of your mind for putting Teams on a personal device.

Post reply on HN