Digital messaging apps face increased scrutiny from authorities

The shift toward digital communication via apps like WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram is changing how authorities conduct investigations. In Romania, competition authorities are increasingly inspecting mobile devices, including personal phones used for professional purposes, to review messaging history. Failure to provide complete information or attempting to delete relevant data can lead to heavy sanctions, such as a recent 1 million euro fine issued by the Competition Council for providing incomplete documentation.

Technical experts highlight that end-to-end encryption does not guarantee total privacy if an unauthorized device is linked to a user's account. Dinu Țurcanu, Vice-Rector for Digitalization at the Technical University of Moldova, noted that authorities in Germany have reportedly monitored conversations by using legitimate device-linking features rather than breaking encryption or using spyware. This method allows a secondary device to become a ‘trusted node’ in the communication ecosystem, accessing messages as an authorized terminal. The vulnerability lies not in the encryption mechanism itself, but in the endpoint security, such as active sessions, verification codes, or physical access to the device.