According to U.Today, tech billionaire Elon Musk has issued a warning about the potential privacy issues associated with the messaging app WhatsApp. Musk's tweet suggested that WhatsApp, which is owned by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta, regularly transfers private user data, even stating that the app activates users' microphones at night to transmit data to the company's servers. This claim has sparked a divide in the crypto community, with some supporting Musk's concerns and others questioning the validity of his statement.
Gabor Gurbacs, Tether and VanEck’s strategic advisor, expressed skepticism about Musk's claims, pointing out that WhatsApp messages are supposed to be protected by end-to-end encryption. Other users, including entrepreneur John Carmack, asked Musk for definitive evidence of WhatsApp leaking users' personal data, such as photos, calls, and text messages. Despite these doubts, many users echoed Musk's concerns about the app's security.
In a related development, Musk also recently criticized a new AI feature presented by Microsoft. The feature, called Recall, is designed to take regular screenshots of all user activity on PCs and laptops. Microsoft CEO assured that this data will not be exported from users' computers to Microsoft databases. However, Musk likened this innovation to an episode of the dystopian film series Black Mirror, expressing concerns about its potential privacy implications. Ripple CTO and Vitalik Buterin also questioned the purposes of creating this feature.