WhatsApp: Google has recently announced some major changes in the way of working on Android phones of its Gemini AI. Through an email, users were told that now Gemini AI can access data from third-party apps, such as WhatsApp, so that you can use the facilities of those apps through voice commands. At first glance it seems a convenient feature, but the real concern is that Google cleverly hid in the email that this data sharing will continue even when you have stopped Gemini Apps Activity.

Google store data

According to Google’s website, “Whether Gemini Apps Activity on or off, your chats can be saved in your account for 72 hours.” This means that your personal conversation of Whatsapp can also be temporarily stored near Gemini. Google claims that by doing this Gemini will be able to prepare an answer for you and will also be able to send them, even if you have chosen something else in privacy settings. But the same thing raises serious questions on the privacy of users.

Meta rule

Meta has always been saying that Whatsapp’s chats are end-to-end encrypted, which no one can read a third, even Meta himself is not. But this security is limited only within the app. Notification alerts that come on your phone which have the content of the message can be read. Some Android phones then save these notifications for 24 hours without opening WhatsApp.

Google has not yet clarified how Gemini will read or store these chats but the way to access notifications can be the easiest and possible medium. Due to the deep penetration in Gemini’s Android system, it will not be limited to not only notification and this increases concern about the safety of users’ messaging experience.

How to stop Gemini from reading your WhatsApp data?

Do not worry, you can still decide yourself what to allow Gemini to access. For this, you only have to follow a few steps.

• Open the Gemini app in your Android phone.
• Tap on the profile icon on the top right.
• Click on the option “Gemini Apps Activity”.
• Now in the screen that will open, you will get a tugal switch in it.

Just after this Gemini will not be able to access data from any of your apps. However, note that if any data is already near Gemini, it can save on its server for 72 hours.

Also read:

If your personal photo or video goes viral on the internet without permission, then this is the easy way to remove it immediately

Gadgets 360 for Latest Tech News, Smartphone Review and exclusive offer on popular mobiles Android Download the app and us Google News Follow on

Sitharaman warned that encrypted communication channels are being misused for financial crime such as money laundering and tax evasion. Speaking in Parliament, he said that business and individuals can maintain clean manual bookkeeping, but use digital platforms to do financial crime.

Supporting the provision in the new income tax bill, he said that “the Income Tax Act of 1961 has said the bookkeeping (Physical Book of Account) and Manual Records, but the digital record has not been talked about. This has created controversy, because individuals can ask the question that despite showing the bookkeeping, why are they needed in their digital records. The new bill has to be removed.

The Finance Minister said that an undeclared fund of Rs 250 crore was detected through encrypted messages and scanning of mobile phones.

He said that “WhatsApp communication has shown that there are syndicates included in fake bills of Rs 200 crore and examples where the sale of land was manipulated in a capital gains on the sale of land, which reduced by Rs 150 crore to Rs 2 crore. Professional group on WhatsApp has also been implicated. Google Maps History has been implicated. It has been installed, while the Instagram account helped ownership of expensive vehicles associated with benami property. “

Sitharaman did not disclose the deadline to detect, identify and seize these funds. There was also a lack of information about the crypto asset seized in the information given by him. It is not clear whether the encryption of WhatsApp was directly bypassed or a chat from the device seized during the investigation.

Whatsapp encryption broken!

Meta-owned WhatsApp has said that its message between end-to-end encryption users is completely private.

“End-to-end encryption keeps your personal messages and calls between you and the person you are talking. No one outside the chat can read or share them or even WhatsApp can read or share them. This is because your messages with end-to-end encryption are safe from your message lock and you only have the necessary special people and you have to unlock and read them.”

Whatsapp’s head Will Cathcart in Meta has cleaned the platform’s stance on breaking encryption earlier.

The fact remains that scanning everyone’s messages would destroy privacy as we know it. That was as true last year as it is today. @WhatsApp Will Never Break Our Encryption and Remains Vigilant Against Threats to Do So. https://t.co/ihsbohkp8r

– Will Cathcart (@WCATHCART) September 6, 2023

Whatsapp rejected the request of Gadgets 360 to comment on the Finance Minister’s comments. The platform has also not commented on India’s new Income Tax Bill 2025, which provides access to the tax authorization until private communication.