Freedom of information response

WhatsApp Policy

Publication date: 
Wednesday 3 April 2024
Request: 

1.    Do you have a Policy/procedure that covers the use of WhatsApp within the Council? This can be either as a standalone policy/procedure or as part of a larger policy/procedure. If yes please could you provide the most recent copy. 
2.    If you do not have any policy/procedures please could you let me know if you allow the use of WhatsApp on Corporate devices? 
3.     If you have answered no to the above and yes to answer 2 please let me know if you have any plans on introducing a policy/procedure to cover the use.

Response: 

The Council’s guidance on WhatsApp forms part of the Data Security Policy and the relevant extracts are as follows:

  • If you are using any form of social media platform (e.g. WhatsApp) to send messages, then:
  • the message must be sent from a council owned device
  • the content of the message must not include any personal information (on any individual) that would be captured under the Data Protection Act
  • the content of the message must not include business sensitive information
  • the content of the message must only contain information that the council would be happy to release in the public domain (if requested)
  • do not use it for sending pictures that identify individuals
Request reference:
FOI 13573