Following Elon Musk's promotion of an article on the bug, Meta asserted that Android was to blame.
Both Google and WhatsApp have acknowledged that they are aware of a flaw that appears to provide WhatsApp unauthorized access to some Android devices' microphones. The problem first surfaced a month ago, but it recently received new attention after an engineer at Twitter tweeted about it in a piece that received support from Elon Musk.
Twitter developer Foad Dabiri appeared to have run the microphone frequently in the background when he wasn't using the service, according to an image he posted. He posted a screenshot of Android's Privacy Dashboard, which keeps tabs on how frequently apps use the microphone and camera of a device. Dabiri's post was shared by Musk, who stated: "WhatsApp cannot be trusted." Interestingly, Musk is a renowned supporter of Signal and has stated that Twitter's encrypted direct message service could launch as early as this month. A request for response from the corporation was not answered.
WhatsApp claimed in a tweet that the problem was with Android and not because the chat app had improper access to the microphone. The business stated, "We believe this is an Android bug that incorrectly attributes information in their Privacy Dashboard and have asked Google to investigate and remedy." The problem has not just been discovered by Dabiri. A month ago, the flaw was brought up by the WhatsApp blog wabetainfo, which at the time called it "a false positive" that affected users of select Pixel and Samsung handsets. Restarting the phone was mentioned as a potential solution. Google has not yet provided any information on what might be causing the discrepancy, although it has stated that it is investigating the situation. A Google representative issued a statement saying, "We are aware of the problem and are closely working with WhatsApp to investigate."
