Back in June 2016, Facebook issued a statement.
“Facebook Does Not Use Your Phone’s Microphone for Ads or News Feed Stories,” is its headline.
The copy of the post goes into more detail: “Some recent articles have suggested that we must be listening to people’s conversations in order to show them relevant ads. This is not true. We show ads based on people’s interests and other profile information — not what you’re talking out loud about.”
It was a direct response to a news story that ran in May 2016 from an NBC outpost in Florida that purported to prove that Facebook was listening to users. “Facebook is not only watching, but also listening to your cell phone. It all starts with enabling your microphone feature in your settings. Once you do, choose your words carefully,” the piece says.
The proof in the piece was anecdotal — a professor interviewed by NBC enabled microphone access to her Facebook app, briefly talked aloud about potentially going on a safari, and, “Less than 60 seconds later, the first post on her Facebook feed was a safari story that seemed to pop up out of nowhere.”
It’s exactly these types of stories that embolden the belief that Facebook is listening to your conversations.
