Elon Musk had a simple message for users of the wildly popular WhatsApp messaging platform: it cannot be trusted.
Musk’s message comes after Twitter user Foad Dabiri – Twitter’s director of engineering – showed evidence that WhatsApp had been using his phone’s microphone in the background without telling him.
“WhatsApp has been using the microphone in the background, while I was asleep and since I woke up at 6AM (and that’s just part of the timeline!) What’s going on?” Dabiri wrote.
Musk commented on the tweet, “WhatsApp cannot be trusted.” He followed it up with a standalone tweet, saying, “Trust nothing, not even nothing.”
With those four words, Musk took on fellow billionaire tech mogul Mark Zuckerberg, whose Meta Platforms acquired WhatsApp in 2014. The Zuck had previously been questioned about allegations that WhatsApp listens in to conversations to target ads at people.
In 2018, Senator Gary Peters asked him during a hearing: “Yes or no: Does Facebook use audio obtained from mobile devices to enrich personal information about its users?”
“No,” Zuckerberg replied.
In response to Dabiri and Musk, WhatsApp released a statement on Twitter: “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. 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.”
So, is WhatsApp spying on you? You decide.
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6 Responses
Let them spy how many melafefonim we sell daily while they do zillions.
I should decide? That makes no sense…
This whole thing couldve been staged by Twitter engineers
It’s been a very very long time since I had social media. No Meta services.
In the beginning I was afraid losing connections, then I figured that it happened… then a few days passed then a few months passed then about two years. The feeling is good. No one tells you you didn’t see my WhatsApp story?
I posted my vacation on Facebook. Or fallow me on Instagram. None of that…
It’s just Mechaiye
send what’s app ugly messages and enjoy the fun while at it…one should not worry, what is there to hide….Zuckerberg is Satanic and that is all that is necessary….wow,
Well is musk says so, it must be true
Shimonthepro,
I have WhatsApp and no one tells me that