DOJ Crackdown Prompts Compliance Scramble on WhatsApp, Signal

Corporate compliance chiefs and general counsel are bombarding outside attorneys with questions about how to design a policy to retain employee messaging on encrypted software, white-collar lawyers say.

The intensifying dilemma for companies is fueled by recently stepped up Justice Department pressure in white collar investigations to produce encrypted chats on apps like Signal and WhatsApp. The enforcement push follows a wave of civil settlements on Wall Street over bankers’ inaccessible messages.

“To the extent this was a hot topic, it’s going to be even hotter,” said Brian R. Michael, a Los Angeles-based partner in Morrison Foerster’s investigations and white ...