Civil servants to use local messaging services only in internal communication

ANKARA

Turkey’s civil servants are now required to use only domestically developed instant messaging services for official work and drop other applications such as WhatsApp and Telegram as part of digital security measures.

The Presidential Digital Transformation Office has issued a document, titled “Information and Communications Guide,” to outline the rules for the use of messaging services by the country’s public workers.

“Indigenous voice, visual and written communication applications, which contain critical data and could be locally managed and whose source codes could be monitored when requested by public institutions, should be favored over other applications,” the guide said.

It also suggested that applications whose servers are located in Turkey should be preferred in internal communication.

The measures aim to prevent cyber-attacks and information leakage and part of larger precautions against security risks at public institutions.

Each servant will put a form to indicate the critical data this individual has access to.

Public servants, however, will be able use other applications, such as WhatsApp and Telegram, in their private lives.