Someone claimed that the slider mute switches on Google Home products are software-driven on HN with zero evidence, so I checked. At least on the Home Mini it's hardware. (Also, if you make hard claims on the internet with zero evidence, you're an asshole).
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AFAICT the mics are TDM mics in a stereo config (shared data line, idling at average of ~1/2 Vcc, don't have scope with me to check). That's connected to a single AND gate (SN74LV1T00 or equiv), the other input comes from the mute switch.
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When the mute is engaged, the output of the gate drops to 0V, and that is what goes to the SoC (after a divider, the SoC is probably 1.8V logic while the mics/AND are at 3.3V).
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I traced the path from the hardware switch, through a filter/debounce network, to the AND gate, and from the mics to the AND gate. So unless there are backdoor buried traces that bypass this (which would be hard evidence of a backdoor, since they would make *no sense*), it's safe
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(correction, I meant PDM mics, not TDM; TDM is a different style, though PDM mics do time-division-multiplex the stereo channels, which is how I mixed it up)
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