Musk Warns WhatsApp ‘Cannot Be Trusted,’ Says Twitter Will Soon Allow Voice Calls, Encrypted Messaging

The Twitter logo and a photo of Elon Musk are displayed through a magnifier in this illustration taken on Oct. 27, 2022. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)

Twitter will soon allow users to make video and voice calls and send encrypted messages, CEO Elon Musk has said.

Musk took to the platform on May 9 to announce a string of new features that will be coming to Twitter soon.

“With latest version of app [sic], you can DM [direct message] reply to any message in the thread (not just most recent) and use any emoji reaction,” Musk wrote, adding that on May 10, Twitter will start encrypting direct messages on the platform.

“This will grow in sophistication rapidly,” Musk said, noting that Twitter will not be able to access the encrypted messages. “The acid test is that I could not see your DMs even if there was a gun to my head,” he said.

“Coming soon will be voice and video chat from your handle to anyone on this platform, so you can talk to people anywhere in the world without giving them your phone number,” the businessman added.

Musk did not state if calls on Twitter will be encrypted, as they are on the messaging app WhatsApp, which is operated by Meta.

However, the Tesla CEO revealed last year that he has plans to roll out a “Twitter 2.0 The Everything App,” which he said would combine encrypted direct messages, long-form tweets, and payments.

In March, Musk merged Twitter with a shell firm called ”X Corp,“ which he owns.

WhatsApp ‘Cannot Be Trusted’

In a separate tweet on Tuesday, Musk took aim at WhatsApp, telling Twitter users that the service “cannot be trusted.”

Musk was responding to a post from Twitter engineer Foad Dabiri, who claimed that his WhatsApp application was constantly switching on the microphone, even while he was sleeping.

Dabiri shared a screenshot of his device’s microphone usage, which showed that it had been switched on nine times between 4:20 a.m. to 6:53 a.m. while he was asleep; at one point appearing to record him for nearly 30 minutes.

Replying to Dabiri’s post, Gannon Breslin, CEO of The Drop NFT Media Inc., wrote, “It’s incredible how many people don’t realize that WhatsApp is owned by Meta / Facebook.”

Facebook purchased WhatsApp in 2014 for $16 billion.

Musk replied: “Yeah. Or that WhatsApp founders left Meta/Facebook in disgust, started #deletefacebook campaign & made major contributions to building Signal. What they learned about Facebook & changes to WhatsApp obviously disturbed them greatly.”

WhatsApp swiftly dismissed Dabiri’s claim, stating that users of the messaging service “have full control over their mic settings.”

WhatsApp Denies Listening to Users

“Over the last 24 hours we’ve been in touch with a Twitter engineer who posted an issue with his Pixel phone and WhatsApp,” it said on its official Twitter account. “We believe this is a bug on Android that mis-attributes information in their Privacy Dashboard and have asked Google to investigate and remediate.”

“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,” it added.

The latest announcement from Musk comes amid a revamp of Twitter.

Earlier this week, the billionaire businessman said the platform will start permanently removing and archiving inactive accounts. Under that new policy, users must log in at least every 30 days in order to keep their accounts active.

Last month, Twitter announced it will allow users to apply to monetize their content—including long-form text and hours-long videos—through follower subscriptions, under which creators will receive all the money they earn from their posts for the first 12 months.

“We will also help promote your work. Our goal is to maximize creator prosperity. At any point, you can leave our platform and take your work with you. Easy in, easy out,” Musk said of the new feature.