The Director of Engineering at Twitter’s Growth organization and a former Google engineer recently came across a privacy concern regarding WhatsApp on his Pixel 7 Pro device. He discovered that the app accessed his phone’s microphone nine times in total, without any user interaction, as reported by Google’s privacy dashboard.
The engineer Foad Dabiri took to Twitter to share his experience over the weekend. He posted a screenshot revealing the intermittent access of his microphone by WhatsApp during the early morning hours.
Given the track record of Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, when it comes to privacy issues, the problem understandably sparked criticism from numerous internet users.
The Twitter army swiftly mobilized, including the platform’s owner Elon Musk joining the conversation. The CEO of Twitter didn’t hold back in expressing his views on Meta’s privacy practices, going as far as stating that WhatsApp simply cannot be trusted.
In response to a user’s tweet expressing surprise at the lack of awareness regarding WhatsApp’s ownership by Meta, Musk added to the topic. He highlighted that the founders of WhatsApp had left Meta/Facebook due to discontent, initiated the #deletefacebook campaign, and played a significant role in building Signal, an alternative messaging platform.
Musk also raised doubts about Meta’s direction for WhatsApp since assuming control, suggesting that the founders’ insights into Facebook and the subsequent changes to WhatsApp had deeply unsettled them. Musk and other individuals hinted at enduring conspiracy theories suggesting that Facebook engages in surveillance of its users.
However, WhatsApp, in contrast, blamed a potential flaw in Google’s privacy dashboard software as the likely cause behind Dabiri’s problem. WhatsApp asserts that the log entries indicating microphone access are inaccurately attributed and has reached out to Google for assistance in uncovering the truth behind the situation.
There is no mobile phone you can trust. Even iPhone access location service and mic without user knowledge several times a day.
There is no escape from the evident gradual dystopian future of mass surveillance from governments and corporations to control the populace
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