Reports have confirmed a suspicion you've had for years: your cell phone really is listening to your conversations.
A marketing company that works for Facebook and Google has privately admitted to eavesdropping on users' smartphone microphones and using the information it picks up to serve ads to them. According to 404 Media.
Television and radio news conglomerate Cox Media Group reportedly acknowledged in an investor presentation that its “active listening” software uses artificial intelligence “to capture real-time intent data by listening to conversations.”
“Advertisers can combine this voice data with behavioral data to target consumers in-market,” the company said. I wrote it in my pitch deck.
CMG noted in its presentation that consumers “leave a data trail based on their conversations and online behavior,” and that its AI-powered software collects and analyzes that behavioral and voice data “from more than 470 sources.”
The slideshow includes claims that Facebook, Google and Amazon are customers of CMG's “active listening” service.
Google removed CMG from its “Partner Program” website after 404 Media reached out to them for comment on the matter.
Facebook and Instagram's parent company Meta confirmed they were investigating whether CMG violated their terms of service.
“Meta does not use cell phone microphones in its advertising and has been publicly public about this for years,” a Meta spokesperson told The Post.
“We are reaching out to CMG to clarify that their program is not based on metadata.”
An Amazon spokesperson told 404 Media that the company's advertising division “has not worked with CMG on this program and has no plans to do so in the future.”
The company said it would take action against partners who violate the rules.
Last December, New Hampshire-based Mindshift boasted that it was listening to people's everyday conversations using microphones on their devices and then using the voice data to target advertisements. According to 404 Media.
The report revealed the existence of CMG's “active listening” feature.
“We know what you're all thinking: is this legal?” the company wrote. Cox's deleted blog post From November 2023.
“It is legal for your phone or device to listen to you. When consumers are presented with pages of terms and conditions in fine print when downloading a new app or update, active listening is often included.”
The Post has reached out to CMG, Meta, Google and Amazon for comment.
