WhatsApp is not secretly recording Android users, the company said after Elon Musk alleged the app ‘cannot be trusted’.
Twitter CEO Mr Musk made the accusation on his social media platform after an employee shared a screenshot that appeared to show WhatsApp sporadically switching the microphone on and off.
Having initially replied ‘that’s weird’ on Sunday, yesterday he retweeted the original message under the words ‘WhatsApp cannot be trusted’, sparking thousands of replies and shares.
In response, WhatsApp posted: ‘Over the last 24 hours we’ve been in touch with a Twitter engineer who posted an issue with his Pixel phone and WhatsApp.
‘We believe this is a bug on Android that mis-attributes information in their privacy dashboard and have asked Google to investigate and remediate.’
Smartphone users have often been concerned their devices are listening into conversations. The fear largely stems from targeted advertising which shows users products they may be interested in, but these are generally prompted by the mile-long trail of breadcrumbs left by other activity on devices and the web.
However, some home devices, such as Alexa and Google Nest are always listening – unless specifically switched off – in order to hear commands.
To add further reassurance, WhatsApp continued: ‘Users have full control over their mic settings.
‘Once granted permission, WhatsApp only accesses the mic when a user is making a call or recording a voice note or video – and even then, these communications are protected by end-to-end encryption so WhatsApp cannot hear them.’
Mr Musk, who is known to be a fan of WhatsApp rival Signal, revealed plans to encrypt direct messages on Twitter in an interview with Fox News.
WhatsApp has asked Google – Android’s owner – to investigate and fix the bug, which was first highlighted in April.
A Google spokesperson said: ‘We are aware of the issue and are working closely with WhatsApp to investigate’.
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