Will be examining this: Union Minister on WhatsApp privacy breach

Twitter users' claim WhatsApp is listening in even when the app is not being used. Union Minsiter and WhatsApp officials react.

Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, on Wednesday reacted to a tweet that accused the instant-messaging app WhatApp of violating users’ privacy.

The user Foad Dabri, who claims to be a former Twitter employee, said that the app has been listening in on its users. “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? (sic),” he asked in a tweet he posted on May 6.

---

He also shared a screenshot of microphone usage on WhatsApp before he woke up and used that to prove that the platform was listening in even when the users were not actively using the app. Several others replied with their own screenshots that showed the same.

Reacting to that on the morning of May 10, the Minister wrote, “This is an unacceptable breach n violation of #Privacy.”

Assuring that the government will look into the matter, “We will be examinig this immdtly and will act on any violation of privacy even as new Digital Personal Data protection bill #DPDP is being readied (sic),” he further added. Twitter CEO Elon Musk also tweeted, “WhatsApp cannot be trusted.”

WhatsApp responded to the issue and said that it was a bug on Android that “mis-attributes information in their Privacy Dashboard” and said that it has asked Google to “investigate and remediate”.

“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 clarified.

However, there have been concerns over the security and privacy of WhatsApp users for quite some time now, especially after many Indian users started to receive spam calls from international caller IDs.

This is an unacceptable breach n violation of #Privacy

We will be examinig this immdtly and will act on any violation of privacy even as new Digital Personal Data protection bill #DPDP is being readied.@GoI_MeitY @_DigitalIndia https://t.co/vtFrST4bKP

— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@Rajeev_GoI) May 10, 2023

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. https://t.co/MnBi3qE6Gp

— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) May 9, 2023