The White House is requiring all government-issued phones to have an app installed featuring a constant drip of praise for the president and prewritten messages of adoration.
After launching the White House app publicly in March, the Trump administration has now moved to ensure the app is on every government phone, according to a report in Government Executive.
The move has raised concerns that the app could be a back door to the government, allowing hackers access behind the government firewall.
“Any app that is installed on government issued devices can potentially create backdoor access to government networks behind the firewall,” a former government IT expert, Sonny Hashmi, told Government Executive.
In April, NOTUS reported that cyber security experts were concerned about vulnerabilities in the app.
The app shared users’ IP addresses, time zones and other data to third-party services, the security experts found. But on top of this, the app isn’t honest about its data sharing practices, meaning users are none-the-wiser.
“The U.S. government’s infrastructure is being attacked from all sides right now, and having an amateur WordPress developer running the White House’s public presence puts everybody who visits it at risk,” Philip Fields, a cybersecurity researcher and former FBI intelligence analyst, told NOTUS.
Asked if the demand to install the app across millions of government-issued devices was true, the White House did not respond directly.
“The White House App gives all Americans direct access to White House live streams, breaking news alerts, new policy initiatives, social media posts, and more. Government devices typically include pre-installed apps that provide value to government employees’ day-to-day work,“ spokeswoman Olivia Wales said in a statement.
The app describes itself as “everything you need to stay connected” to the White House, and has favorable news articles, media statements and ways to interact with the administration built in.
It also provides Donald Trump with a constant stream of praise if users click on a button to “text” the 79-year-old president. A preloaded draft message reportedly pops up to be sent to a pre-selected phone number, featuring the phrase, “Greatest President Ever!”
Despite the White House’s claim that the app is typical of what you might find pre-installed to “provide value to government employees’ day-to-day work,” one former government tech official said it’s not a work tool.
“It’s just making sure all federal employees are forced to see the same propaganda they push out to the public,” David Nesting, a career civil servant who has previously worked for the Office of the Chief Information Officer, told Government Executive.
In fact, the content of the app—largely laudatory of Trump —is in direct conflict with the neutrality expected of federal public servants.
Trump announced the app in March, claiming it gave “front row access” to “your favorite president, Donald J. Trump, that’s me.”
The Hatch Act of 1939 requires all federal employees to maintain political neutrality, specifically, “to protect federal employees from political coercion in the workplace,” the U.S. Special Counsel’s overview of the law says.
Much of the app’s content is aimed at presenting Trump’s second term in a glowing light and laying blame for issues at the feet of Democrats.
“Stuck in line at La Guardia? Blame a Democrat,” one title featured on the app reads.
The rollout of the app to government phones is expected to start in at least one agency, the FAA, next week, Government Executive said.
