White House app faces backlash for auto-filling ‘Greatest President Ever’ when messaging POTUS; ‘Trump patting own back’
The official White House mobile app appears on government-issued devices and features a feature that allows users to send messages to President Donald Trump, according to government personnel and independent journalist Aaron Parnas.
Parnas shared screenshots showing the app automatically populating the phrase “Greatest President Ever” when users open the messaging feature.
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“Greatest President Ever!”
The screenshot, which was supplied to Parnas by a federal government app user, shows a text composition screen directed to the short code “45470,” with the words “Greatest President Ever!” already typed into the message field.
In a video, Parnas further added that federal employees had begun seeing the White House application downloaded to their government phones. The feature apparently was not limited to political appointees but was available on devices used across the federal workforce.
Parnas said, “This is going on phones for almost every government employee. Literally, from a janitor who uses a government phone to a high-up secretary. Secretary, as in like Secretary of Health and Human Services, whatever.”
The White House App was launched in March this year. However, last week, the Trump administration mandated that the app be on every government phone, the Daily Beast reported.
“That’s the funniest auto-text ever.”
The screenshot was pounced upon by social media users as proof of what critics claimed was excessive political branding in official correspondence.
One user wrote, “Just another example of Trump patting himself on the back because no one else will.”
A user also questioned the move and the autopopulated message that is sent to Trump, praising him. The user wrote, “Is it normal to need this kind of constant validation and not be able to take any criticism at all? Is that a good trait for being president of the USA?”
Some users further went on to criticize the text that gets sent automatically, calling Trump the “Greatest President.” “That’s the funniest auto-text ever,” someone wrote.
Some users online are also speculating that the app is partly functioning as spyware. A user wrote, “Imagine purposefully installing Spyware onto your personal phone.”
Substantiating the speculation, a former government IT expert, Sonny Hashmi, told Government Executive, “Any app that is installed on government-issued devices can potentially create backdoor access to government networks behind the firewall.”
Cybersecurity experts were worried about the app’s vulnerabilities, according to a report published in April by NOTUS. The security experts discovered that the software shared users’ IP addresses, time zones, and other information with outside services.
Furthermore,the report states that theapp lacks transparency regarding its data sharing policies and the exposure of users’ information.
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What is the White House App?
Trump said that the app provided “front row access” to “your favorite president, Donald J. Trump, that’s me” when he unveiled it in March.
White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said, “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.”
Positive news pieces, media remarks, and methods to engage with the administration are all integrated into the app, which bills itself as “everything you need to stay connected” to the White House.
Wales was questioned about the demand to install the app on millions of smartphones provided by the government during a press conference. When asked if the statement was accurate, she responded, “Government devices typically include pre-installed apps that provide value to government employees’ day-to-day work.”
However, David Nesting, a career civil servant who previously worked for the Office of the Chief Information Officer, told Government Executive, “It’s just making sure all federal employees are forced to see the same propaganda they push out to the public.”