Last month, WhatsApp came under fire from privacy activists as some people reported that the messenger app accessed microphones even if it was not in use.
However, the Meta-owned company categorically rejected allegations of WhatsApp secretly listening to conversations. It pointed fingers at Google and suggested that a bug in the Android privacy dashboard may have caused the misattribution of microphone access by the messenger app.
Taking cognisance of the issue, Google's Android division began the investigation and now, after a month, it has concluded that WhatsApp was right all along.
Android Developers' official Twitter handle has revealed that the Android bug caused erroneous privacy indicators and notifications against WhatsApp in the Android Privacy Dashboard and also apologised to WhatsApp and the Android phone owners for the bug.
The company has advised Android phone users to update their WhatsApp to the latest update to fix the false privacy escalation issue.
"A recent Android bug affecting a limited number of WhatsApp users produced erroneous privacy indicators and notifications in the Android Privacy Dashboard," said the Android Developers team on Twitter.
"Users can now update their WhatsApp app to address this issue. We thank WhatsApp for their partnership and apologize for any confusion this bug may have caused users," added the Android Developers team.
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