Whisper Chief Executive Michael Heyward said he would fire the employee who allegedly told reporters that the anonymously posting app would track a user for life.

The company’s editorial staff, which includes Editor-in-Chief Neetzan Zimmerman, has already been suspended.

Heyward on Tuesday defended his startup’s privacy practices during an onstage interview at the Wall Street Journal’s WSJD Live tech conference in Laguna Beach. It was his first time speaking publicly about the Guardian’s Oct. 16 report that accused the app of tracking users’ locations, including those who opted out of the service.

He said the British outlet’s reporters came to Whisper’s Santa Monica offices under “false pretenses” and misinterpreted technical facts presented by non-technical employees.

“To try and infer that because you have IP addresses means that you’re tracking users’ GPS who opted out of GPS is really highly sensationalistic and really misleading,” Heyward said.

The report also said Whisper changed its privacy policy after learning the publication’s plan to publish. Heyward maintained that those alterations were already in the works.

“The Guardian has continued to use this as their smoking gun to undermine our credibility despite the fact that we’ve shown them physical evidence that the privacy policy was done months in advance,” he said.

A U.S. Senate committee has requested a briefing with Heyward to explain the app’s practices and address the Guardian’s allegations.

Staff reporter Melissah Yang can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @MelissahYang for the latest in L.A. tech news.