They probably shouldn't mandate "how technology works". I certainly wouldn't vote for that. However, I think that public services (paid for by taxes) should be

They probably shouldn't mandate "how technology works". I certainly wouldn't vote for that. However, I think that public services (paid for by taxes) should be open and accessible. That is, the government should mandate certain properties ("it should be open") and not certain implementations ("it should use this specific protocol / app"). Another commenter gave the example of Brazil schools sending parents important information via WhatsApp. Now I'm not against the schools doing that if it's one of multiple options and if the parents have an actual choice. I think the government should mandate that at least one open choice be made available, without necessarily detailing said choice. In my view this wouldn't stifle innovation. If you come up with some new communication app that's better than anything else, if it's open and many people pick it up, there's no reason for the schools not to use it instead of the older / inferior option. This would also allow schools to choose one among several open solutions according to their particular needs.