The Scottish government is currently under intense scrutiny as allegations surface regarding the potential deletion or use of auto-delete functions for WhatsApp messages related to the Covid-19 pandemic by senior figures, including former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. Current First Minister Humza Yousaf has staunchly denied allegations of message deletion and has pledged full cooperation with both the UK and Scottish Covid inquiries.
In response to the allegations, First Minister Yousaf stated, “I have kept and retained all of the WhatsApp messages, and I am more than happy to hand them over to the Covid inquiry.” He emphasized that government business was not routinely conducted via WhatsApp. The controversy revolves around claims that some government officials, including Sturgeon, manually deleted messages related to the pandemic.
