The United Kingdom Government has confirmed that Ministers and Public Servants are allowed to send messages through Google Workspace, which means they can be set to delete instantly, leaving no trace of what was discussed.
The confirmation comes as concerns grow that self-destructing messages are being used to avoid scrutiny of decision-making processes, including on key issues such as the Government’s COVID-19 response.
A letter from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), sent in response to a freedom of information (FOI) request, states: “Instant messaging (through Google Workspace) may be used in preference to email for routine communications where there is no need to retain a record of the communication.
“Chat messages are retained for 90 days to provide staff with the opportunity to record any substantive conversations, after which time they are permanently deleted,” the Department said.
“Users can also switch history off, meaning messages will be deleted once a chat session has finished,” it said.
Transparency campaigners have expressed alarm at a culture of “Government by WhatsApp”.
The Citizens non-profit organisation, which made the FOI request, has threatened legal action.
Executive Director, Clara Maguire said the use of such functions made it impossible to carry out required legal checks about whether a message should be archived for posterity.
“Information that could be useful to a public inquiry, or otherwise fall within the scope of an FOI request, may be lost as a result,” Ms Maguire said.
“If urgent steps are not taken to ensure that Ministers and officials don’t erase from the record, critical files – on COVID policy and other key areas of British history — they could be lost forever,” she said.
“That would be a tragedy.”
Ms Maguire said to govern by vanishing message “is totally democratically unacceptable”.
London, 17 June 2021
