WhatsApp Access To User Microphones Without Permission, Elon Musk: Untrustworthy Apps!

WhatsApp has used the microphone in the background. (photo: dock.whatsapp)

JAKARTA - WhatsApp and Google have finally investigated allegations of misuse of microphones in the background by Twitter engineers, which led to spying allegations.

This incident began when Twitter engineer Foad Dadari found a microphone in the Meta-owned app that had repeatedly been running in the background when he was not using WhatsApp.

Then, he tweeted a screenshot from the Android Privacy Dasbor, which is a feature owned by Google that tracks how and when third-party apps access cameras and microphones.

Screenshot shows WhatsApp turning on its microphone at least every two minutes between 04.20 and 06.53.

"WhatsApp has been using a microphone in the background while I was sleeping and since I woke up at 6 am (and it's just part of the timeline!) What's going on," tweeted Dadir.

Shortly after, billionaire Elon Musk retweeted the Castration post saying, "WhatsApp can't be trusted," Musk tweeted.

And coincidentally, Musk also just announced that he will be rolling out encrypted features on his Direct Messages (DM) service on Twitter as early as this month. He is also known as a Signal fan.

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? pic.twitter.com/pNIfe4VlHV

— Foad Dabiri (@foaddabiri) May 6, 2023

WhatsApp has been using the microphone in the background, while I was sleeping and since I dated up at 6AM (and that's just a part of the timeline!) What's going on? pic.twitter.com/pNIfe4VlHV

The results of the investigation of the two companies showed there were bugs in the Android system, and Google confirmed their investigation into the matter.

Google also stated that it would soon launch improvements for affected users. WhatsApp states bugs on Android send false information to the user's Privacy Dasbor.

"Users have full control over their microphone settings. After permission, WhatsApp only accesses the microphone when the user makes a call or records voice or video records and even so, this communication is protected by end-to-end encryption so WhatsApp can't hear it," WhatsApp said on its official Twitter.

Castration isn't the first to be aware of this problem. The WABetaInfo feature tracker found the bug a month ago, describing it as a false positive affecting owners of several Pixel and Samsung devices.

They added, by restarting the phone, it might fix this problem. This was quoted from Engadget, Thursday, May 11.