Elon Musk blasts WhatsApp! Messaging app reacts, blames Google Pixel

A recent incident has made Twitter and Tesla CEO to say, "WhatsApp cannot be trusted." It happened this way. A Twitter engineer named Foad Dabiri (@foaddabiri) on May 6th informed that WhatsApp has been using his microphone in the background while he was asleep and even thereafter. He even shared a screenshot of the same. Google Pixel smartphone too was dragged into the issue.

"WhatsApp has been using the microphone in the background, while I was asleep and since I woke up at 6AM (and that's just a part of the timeline!) What's going on?," the tweet by the Twitter engineer read. Sharing this tweet on his Twitter profile on Tuesday, May 9, Musk wrote, "WhatsApp cannot be trusted."

In a response to the same and sharing the engineer's tweet, WhatsApp on its Twitter account informed that over the last 24 hours, it has been in touch with a Twitter engineer who posted an issue with his Google Pixel smartphone and WhatsApp. The online messaging app also said that it is a bug on Android that it mis-attributes information in their privacy dashboard. WhatsApp has also asked Google to investigate.

"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," WhatsApp tweeted.

The online messaging app also added that it gives users full control over their mic settings. And once the user grants the permission, the app only accesses the mic when a user is making a call or recording a voice note or video which are again end-to-end encrypted.

"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," another tweet by WhatsApp read.