In the upshot of a political scandal that has roiled parliament, parliamentarian Katy Clark has introduced a bill making it illegal for bureaucrats to delete WhatsApp messages and destroy other communications related to the affairs of government.
“WhatsApp deletion is a pre-bed ritual.”
Several leading Scottish administrators, including former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy First Minister John Swinney, National Clinical Director Jason Leitch and Director General for Strategy and External Affairs Ken Thomson deleted their private messages in 2020–2021, despite knowing full well that such messages were recoverable under the Scottish Freedom of Information Act.
Worse, they even joked about deleting the messages.
Leitch told officials: “WhatsApp deletion is a pre-bed ritual.”
Meanwhile, Thomson sent the following message on WhatsApp: “Just to remind you (seriously) this is discoverable under FOI. Know where the ‘clear chat’ button is. Plausible deniability are my middle names. Now clear it again.”
“It is completely unacceptable for politicians and officials to wipe WhatsApps, texts and other messages about the work of government and public bodies,” Clark, the bill’s author, said.
“Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney still have very serious questions to answer about the disappearance of all of their WhatsApp messages,” she continued. “Their explanations about the unavailability of these messages is simply not good enough, given the lives lost [during the pandemic] and the catastrophic decision to admit infected patients into care homes at the height of the outbreak.”
“Government business should happen on government systems.”
In a typical case of “too little, too late,” the Scottish government has now ended the use of WhatsApp and other social media and public chatrooms for government business.
“Government business should happen on government systems which are secure, searchable and allow the appropriate sharing of information, in line with our statutory duties,” Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said in a statement to Parliament.
Citing “industrial-scale” deletion, Member of Scottish Parliament Craig Hoy said: “This change in policy is all well and good but the horse has already bolted for bereaved families who were denied the answers they deserved over the decisions taken … during the pandemic.”
He went on to say that “secrecy and evasion are hardwired into” the government, “so the Scottish people will not be duped into thinking one overdue concession marks a change in culture.”
Scottish parliament member Alex Cole-Hamilton echoed the sentiment, saying the new policy of banning WhatsApp for official use doesn’t change the fact that government officials deleted messages on the platform “on a wholesale basis” during the pandemic.
“In doing so, they denied the COVID bereaved a full understanding of the decisions that were made, undermining their search for justice and closure,” he said.
The government, he added, “will have to move mountains before people can be confident this deception won’t happen again.”
Forbes, for her part, said ending the use of WhatsApp and other unofficial messaging would increase “openness and transparency” in government.
Since it began in 2005, Scotland’s Freedom of Information Act has worked rather well. There have been 1.4 million requests fulfilled in 20 years. Some 86 percent of requests have been answered within the 20-working day required period.
The new reform bill encourages disclosure and makes criminal any attempt to alter or destroy information—whether a request has been made for that information or not.
The Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland (CFOIS) expressed its full support for the bill. CFOIS Director Carole Ewart said: “We are delighted the bill will be considered … and hope it achieves all party support to ensure the architecture of transparency, accountability and scrutiny so carefully constructed 23 years ago is restored and strengthened to improve FOI practice.”
According to Scottish Information Commissioner David Hamilton, FOI is heavily used in Scotland. “The number of reported FOI requests in a 12-month period has exceeded 100,000 for the first time, with 102,227 requests recorded between July 2024 and June 2025,” he said.
“Our most recent public awareness polling, meanwhile, told us that 97 percent of people felt that the right to access information from public bodies was important, while only 6 percent felt that FOI is a waste of public money—the lowest level since this question was first asked in 2011.
“There is misconception that FOI is the preserve of the media but, significantly, 81 percent of appeals made to my office are made by members of the public.”
While Hamilton disagrees with several parts of the bill, he said: “After 20 years though, it is undoubtedly time for a refresh—not least because there have been massive changes in both the way we access information and the way public bodies deliver their services.”
The bill is undergoing the initial stage of parliamentary review. Whether it will pass or fail, and in what ultimate form, is anyone’s guess.
But the importance cannot be overstated. As Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard famously said: “Democracy depends exclusively on the informedness of the individual citizen.”
