Many people have claimed for years that their phones are listening to them when they see ads about specific things they have been speaking about – and now the head of Instagram has explained how it works
We’ve all been there, one moment you’re talking about something, then all of a sudden you’re seeing a surge in adverts pop up on social media for that specific topic of conversation.
The scary, and rather dystopian reality that out phones are listening to us may be worrying, wondering how on earth Instagram knows you’re looking for new shoes, a kitchen appliance or even a flight to somewhere in Europe.
However Instagram head Adam Mosseri took to his own page to stop the rumours that the social media app is actively listening to users and using it to target them with relevant ads. The idea that Meta would secretly turn on the microphones on users’ phones to record their conversations is an age-old conspiracy theory that has been around for years – and it’s something Meta has always denied.
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However Mosseri’s dispute comes in ironic timing, as Meta has just announced it will soon target ads to users across its social apps using data collected from their interactions with its AI products.
Essentially, Meta doesn’t need to record your conversations through secretly turning on your microphone to serve you eerily accurate recommendations, as AI is already tracking your interests through data collection.
On Instagram, Mosseri says he’s had a number of conversations about Meta listening to its users, many of whom can’t believe how well the company’s ad targeting actually works, and says even his wife has asked him before too.
The social media giant has spent years trying to explain that it doesn’t need to record your conversations to target you. According to Tech Crunch, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress in 2018, denying once again that the company was collecting users’ audio data for this purpose.
“There’s a very common misconception about Facebook, that we sell data to advertisers,” Zuckerberg said. “And we we do not sell data to advertisers.”
The CEO then said: “What we allow is for advertisers to tell us who they want to reach and then we do the placement.” Facebook, he says, just “shows the ads to the right people without that data ever changing hands and going to the advertisers. That’s a very fundamental part of how our model works,” he added.
Addressing the concerns once again, Mosseri said users would know if their phone’s microphone was on because they would see a light at the top of their screen, and the phone’s battery would drain faster.
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He explained that the recommendation system is so powerful because of how it works with its advertisers, who share information with the company about who has visited their websites. He noted that this information then helps Meta target users with relevant ads.
Mosseri also said Meta shows people ads that it thinks they may be interested in based on what similar people with similar interests are also interested in and because of this algorithm-based ad tech, Meta is now going to leverage AI to make these ad-targeting decisions.
Do you feel like your phone is listening to you? Let us know in the comments
However it means those who feel like they are already being listened to are going to feel it even more intensely now. The company said its new privacy policy, which is being released on December 16, will allow it to use data from consumers’ interactions with its AI products in most markets as another signal.
It is even more powerful than the old algorithm, basing it off similar interests, as it goes off what users are engaging in with AI chatbots like Meta AI about their interests, ideas, and activities.
“You might have actually seen that ad before you had the conversation and not realised it,” Mosseri said in his video. “We scroll quickly. We scroll by ads quickly. And sometimes you internalise some of that, and that actually affects what you talk about later.”
The Mirror has approached Meta for comment.
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