Centre to examine WhatsApp's breach of privacy: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Even Twitter CEO Elon Musk stated 'WhatsApp cannot be trusted'

Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Wednesday said the government will investigate a claim that WhatsApp accessed the microphone of smartphone users while the phone was not in use.

"This is an unacceptable breach and a violation of privacy. We will investigate this immediately and will act on any violation of privacy, even as the new Digital Personal Data Protection Bill (DPDP) is being readied," tweeted Chandrasekhar.

Chandrasekhar responded to a tweet by Foad Dabiri, a Twitter engineer, claimed that WhatsApp accessed the smartphone's microphone while he was sleeping.

Also Read — WhatsApp job scams: Here are tips to protect yourself

"WhatsApp has been using the microphone in the background while I was asleep and since I woke up at 6 AM," Foad Dabiri, an engineering director at Twitter, said on Saturday. "What’s going on?" he tweeted.

In the tweet, Dabiri shared screenshots of his phone which showed WhatsApp accessing and using his handset's microphone at various times.

This allegation became viral, even attracting the reaction of Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who tweeted, "WhatsApp cannot be trusted."

Shivnath Thukral, Director, Public Policy India, Meta, claimed the issue arose owing to an Android flaw and assured the users that WhatsApp conversations are fully encrypted.

"We believe this is a bug on Android; Google has said they are looking into it. Your calls and voice notes are protected by end-to-end encryption, so we cannot hear the microphone in any case. We’re aligned on safeguarding privacy," a Meta official said.

WhatsApp on its part responded saying that it has been in touch with the Twitter engineer over the last 24 hours. The company said that this can be likely due to a bug in Android. "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 said in a tweet.

The company further added that 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," it added.