SEC Targets Its Staff’s Texting, Nixes WhatsApp on Work Phones

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has blocked third-party messaging apps and texts from employees’ work mobile phones, bringing its own practices closer to the standards it’s enforcing for the industry.

The SEC’s decision to block disappearing-messaging apps will help the agency improve its own record-keeping and address security vulnerabilities after one of its social-media accounts was compromised earlier this year. It follows about $3 billion in fines imposed on financial firms to settle allegations that they failed to keep adequate records of work-related communications on mobile devices and apps such as Signal and Meta Platforms Inc.’s WhatsApp. ...