The Indian government has announced an investigation into allegations of privacy breaches by the popular messaging service, WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta. The Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, has stated that the allegations are “unacceptable” and that the government will take the matter seriously.
The investigation has been launched in response to a complaint made by Foad Dabiri, an engineering director at Twitter, who claimed that WhatsApp had been accessing his microphone while he was asleep. Dabiri said that he had noticed that the messaging app had been using his microphone in the background and had contacted WhatsApp about the issue.
WhatsApp has responded to the allegations by stating that they have been in contact with Dabiri to address the issue he had with his Pixel phone and WhatsApp. The company also stressed that users have complete control over their microphone settings and that they only access the microphone when a user is making a call, or recording a voice note, or video. Additionally, the company reiterated that all communications are protected by end-to-end encryption, ensuring that WhatsApp cannot listen to them.
This complaint against WhatsApp comes at a time when the messaging app is already under scrutiny by the Indian government. Last year, WhatsApp faced backlash from the government over its new privacy policy, which allowed the company to share user data with parent company, Facebook. The government had expressed concerns about the implications of this policy on the privacy of Indian citizens.
WhatsApp’s reputation has been further called into question by the recent allegations made by Dabiri and the subsequent investigation launched by the government. Even Twitter CEO Elon Musk weighed in on the matter, stating that WhatsApp “cannot be trusted.”
The investigation by the Indian government is ongoing, and it remains to be seen what actions will be taken against WhatsApp if any wrongdoing is found. However, this incident serves as a reminder of the importance of privacy and data protection, and the need for companies to be transparent in their policies and practices.
