EU Ombudsman Reprimands Commission Over Automatic Deletion of Signal Chats (heise.de)

• Ombudsman finds maladministration in automatic deletion of Signal chats by von der Leyen.
• Journalist waited 15 months for response on Macron message that was already deleted.
• Anjinho demands mandatory retention of chat messages and preservation upon requests.

"European Ombudsman Teresa Anjinho has found maladministration by the European Commission due to systematic automatic deletion of messages on encrypted messengers like Signal by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. A journalist requested access to a message from French President Macron regarding Mercosur trade talks. The Commission took 15 months to reply, stating the message no longer existed due to auto-delete. Anjinho demands reforms: mandatory preservation of such messages and protection during freedom of information requests."