Mr Drakeford has told the Covid Inquiry he sent just 11 WhatsApp messages during the pandemic as he defended colleagues who used a disappearing function.
Welsh Labour colleagues including Vaughan Gething, the former health minister, are said to used the tool on WhatsApp while dealing with the response to Covid.
The disappearing function sees messages automatically deleted after 24 hours, 7 days, or 90 days, depending on what the user picks.
Asked about it at the Covid Inquiry, Mr Drakeford said: “In so far as I am well informed about these things, I think it’s what people do all the time
“And I don’t think people would have been doing it with an eye to a future inquiry. Now the spotlight has been shone on these matters in the way that it has, then it would have been better if things were not deleted.”
Speaking about his own WhatsApp use, Mr Drakeford said: “I’ve had the record checked. There are 11 occasions. One of those, I say ‘thanks’. That’s one of them.
“In another one, I complain I can’t hear the sound of the Senedd when I’m meant to be answering questions. It’s certainly true, I did use, but I’m a very, very infrequent user of WhatsApp. I’m a much more frequent user of text messages.”
