Elon Musk has criticized WhatsApp on Twitter after reports surfaced that the messaging app is listening to users. In response to a tweet from a user who claimed that WhatsApp accessed their phone’s microphone while they slept, Musk stated that the app “cannot be trusted.
” This is not the first time that Musk has criticized Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In recent weeks, Musk has accused Zuckerberg of bias for supporting Democrats through campaign donations. WhatsApp responded to the incident on Twitter, attributing the issue to a bug on Android.
However, the issue has persisted for months, with many users reporting that the microphone is activated in the background. Some users have suggested restarting their devices or toggling off and on the mic access notification shortcut to fix the issue.
WhatsApp maintains that users have full control over their mic settings and that the app only accesses the microphone when a user is making a call or recording a voice note or video, with end-to-end encryption protecting these communications. WhatsApp’s tweet regarding the incident suggests that Google’s Privacy Dashboard may be to blame for the issue.
