All it takes is a famous person to boost a post. On Twitter, one of the most famous people where other people listen to, is Elon Musk.
On May 9th, a Twitter user who is also a Twitter engineer, complained, saying that he found a bug at the popular messaging app WhatsApp on Android. He said that his phone "has been using the microphone in the background, while I was asleep [...] ."
Foad Dabiri showed how his phone's microphone had been repeatedly running in the background while he wasn’t using the app, by accompanying his tweet with a screenshot from Android’s Privacy Dashboard, which tracks how often apps access a device’s microphone and camera.
The tweet didn't get that much traction, until the billionaire, owner of Twitter, Musk stepped.
Musk retweeted Dabiri’s post, saying that "WhatsApp cannot be trusted."
WhatsApp cannot be trusted https://t.co/3gdNxZOLLy
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2023
It was only this, that the tweet received WhatsApp's attention.
In a statement shared on Twitter, WhatsApp suggested that it was an Android-related issue, and was not a result of inappropriate microphone access by the messaging app.
"We believe this is a bug on Android that mis-attributes information in their Privacy Dashboard and have asked Google to investigate and remediate," the company said.
Later, both Google and WhatsApp confirmed they are aware of a bug.
It's reporter that the bug makes it seem that WhatsApp is accessing phones’ microphones unnecessarily on some Android devices.
"We are aware of the issue and are working closely with WhatsApp to investigate,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement.
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
In a reply, WhatsApp reiterates that “users have full control over their mic settings,” and that the app only uses the microphone when a user is making a call or sending a voice note/video.
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— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) May 9, 2023
It's worth noting that Dabiri is not the first to notice the issue.
WhatsApp blog wabetainfo has previously highlighted the bug about a month before this, describing it at the time as "a false positive" affecting owners of some Pixel and Samsung devices.
The website added that restarting the phone may be a possible fix.
While the issue has been noticed for about a month, it only gained significant attention after a Twitter engineer tweeted about it in a post that was boosted by Elon Musk.