WhatsApp, something disturbing happens in the night: be careful what you say (and do)

WhatsApp is once again at the center of the controversy: it has discovered an alarming phenomenon that occurs during the night.

the group half (formerly Facebook) has often been at the center of media and public opinion due to its unclear management of user privacy and content control on its platforms. also WhatsApp It’s often been challenged for these reasons and a couple of years ago there was also a raft of alienated users when managers forced everyone else to accept new privacy terms regarding data sharing between the company’s various apps.

Years ago, even the creators of WhatsApp were concerned about Meta’s privacy management. Some of them even decided to turn away from his creature, Invite users to distrust WhatsApp and prefer Signal over it. According to them, in fact, the competing application will guarantee greater respect for privacy and greater security in data processing and conversations.

A recent Twitter event brought collective attention back to the issue of security and privacy on WhatsApp. However, it must be said that the incident was reported by a member of a competing company and that the owner of this company has long been engaged in an open and public struggle against Meta. But let’s go in order and try to understand what happened.

WhatsApp spying on us during the night? Discover a former Google employee

The disturbing phenomenon that sees the world’s most popular instant messaging app as a protagonist came about thanks to Fouad Dabiri, a former Google engineer and now director of engineering at Twitter. In a tweet, the engineer showed how the Pixel 7 Pro recorded a file Unauthorized use of microphone by WhatsApp during the early morning hours.

Al-Dubairi published a picture of her as a testimony and raised her fears, writing:WhatsApp used my microphone in the background while I was sleeping And until I got up at six, what’s going on? Elon Musk immediately responded to this tweet — never soft when it comes to talking about the Meta and its features — by retweeting evidence of microphone use by the app and adding a less diplomatic expression: “You can’t trust Whatsapp.”

Why does WhatsApp use our microphone in the background? Is this an intentional action or a mistake? Is Meta really spying on us? These are the questions everyone asked themselves when reading what Dabiri and Musk said. The American company itself was keen to answer these questions and accusations.

Without arousing controversy, WhatsApp announced that it had contacted the Twitter engineer who raised the issue, then added – as logically as possible – that what happened wasn’t caused by the Meta app: “We think this is an Android bug This results in an error in the information in the privacy dashboard. We have asked Google to investigate to resolve the issue.”