After Mark Rutte was previously caught deleting nearly all of his text messages, the national government issued “urgent advice” to civil servants and administrators not to auto-delete chat messages. Most civil servants aren’t thrilled about this, according to research by BNR.
Chat apps, such as WhatsApp and Signal, have for a few years now been offering the ability to automatically make messages disappear after a certain time. However, the use of this privacy-friendly feature is controversial within the government. Following parliamentary questions from Caroline van der Plas (BBB) on the disappearance of chat messages early last year, Interior Minister Hanke Bruins Slot vowed to give civil servants “urgent advice” in February to deactivate always the function. When Prime Minister Mark Rutte was caught by de Volkskrant deleting nearly all of his text messages a few months later, this advice was widely distributed in the form of an updated manual for managing chat messages.
Most of the spokesmen sent messages that disappeared
However, most government officials don’t abide by these rules, according to a test by BNR. BNR sent fourteen spokespersons from ministries, government services and state councils a question via WhatsApp in a chat where disappearing messages were used. (This function can be activated by both the sender and the recipient.) The selection criterion was that a spokesperson’s 06 number was online and could be found on WhatsApp.
Only a spokesman responded without using a disappearance message himself. Eleven spokespersons sent a missing message. Two did not answer at all.
BNR asked these government services for a response. They all said it was their spokesperson’s mistake. Several ministries, including Justice and Security, Finance, Public Health, Social Affairs and Economic Affairs, have provided the same broader response. Their policy is in line with the “strong advice not to use this feature”. However, errors lurk if another party uses chats that disappear in communication, the ministries write. Spokespersons also do not use the auto-disappear feature of messages. This does not mean that we can always prevent that if third parties, with whom the spokespersons are one of the few within a ministry, frequently activate the disappear function, the spokesperson does not notice that this function has been activated.’
‘Awareness is insufficient’ among civil servants
The archiving of chat messages has been an issue that has received much-needed political attention in recent months. Following the debate with Rutte, the House of Representatives convened a panel discussion with experts on how to handle chat messages, and the Government Inspectorate for Information and Heritage (IO&E) released a survey into the course of events surrounding text messages from the prime minister. The apparent ease with which spokespersons accepted the use of disappearing messages therefore comes as a surprise to Cornelis van der Sluis, director of the Dutch Knowledge Center Open Government, among others. “Awareness is insufficient and that is disappointing,” says Van der Sluis of the officials.
“Transparency is essential for democracy”
According to Van der Sluis, it is also entirely possible that spokespersons who sent disappearing messages violated the Archives Act. The IO&E report on SMS-gate established clear frameworks for the structural destruction of chat traffic. For example, a picklist is required for specific chat message rules, and otherwise a destruction statement. “And every public official is also expected to know these rules,” says Van der Sluis. However, ministries say it is not structural destruction, because chat messages were accidentally deleted.
Lousewies van der Laan, director of Transparency International, believes the government should handle chat messages as carefully as it does correspondence. “This is to be accountable to the House of Representatives, voters and regulators,” says Van der Laan. “Transparency is essential for democracy.”
Next Thursday, the Advisory Committee on Public Access and Information Management will present Minister Hanke Bruins Slot with a report on how to handle chat messages.
Missing message returned
Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality
Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport
Ministry of Economy and Climate
Ministry of Justice and Security
Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour
Department of Defense
the tax authorities
Customs
General Chamber of Accounts
State Council
Labor Inspectorate
Reply, no disappearing message
Ministry of Finance
No reply
Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations
Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management
Source: BNR
Fernando Dowling is an author and political journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. He has a deep understanding of the political landscape and a passion for analyzing the latest political trends and news.
