Instagram head Adam Mosseri posted to his account to dispel the myth that the social networking giant is actively “listening” users to target with related ads. The idea that Meta secretly turns on the microphone on a user’s phone to record a conversation is a long-standing conspiracy theory, and has been argued by the company before.
But ironically, there is a claim that busts Mosseri’s new myth, as Meta announced that it will use data collected from its interactions with AI products to target ads immediately to users of social apps.
In other words, if the meta didn’t need to record conversations through the microphone to make eerie, accurate recommendations, it definitely isn’t necessary now.
On Instagram, Mosseri says that Meta has a lot of conversations about listening to users. (Even his wife, he says, raised the topic.)
Now we know people who claim that most of us must have their own experience or at least be secretly recording to find out what the meta might click. Sometimes you only think about topics and products, and the content is displayed in your feed, making the meta look like a mind leader.
The company has repeatedly challenged these claims, attempting to explain that there is no need to record conversations to make their recommendations successful. (Mosseri also says it would be a “significant violation of privacy,” but Meta is not usually a company that drives decision-making with user privacy in mind.)
Still, companies don’t necessarily have to “listen” to listen to users.
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In 2016, Meta (known at the time as Facebook) published a blog post that stated that it was not using a mobile phone microphone to determine which ads to display users or what content will be displayed in the newsfeed. A few years later, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress, denying once again that the company was collecting user audio data for this purpose.
Moseli is pleased to have something that can be denied in terms of privacy, just as they are trying to scooped up more data than ever before.
He says for starters, users know if their phone’s microphone is turned on.
Instead, Mosseri explains that Tech Giant’s recommendation system is extremely powerful, with collaboration with advertisers who share information with the company about people who visit the website. That information is useful for meta-target users with related ads. Additionally, the company has shown people advertisements they think they might think they are interested in based on the interests they have as well, as well as similar people with similar interests.
Currently, Meta will leverage AI to make these ad targeting decisions. So if people think they’ve heard it before, it only gets worse. The company said the new privacy policy, released on December 16, will allow data from consumer interactions with AI products in most markets to be used as another signal. And considering that users are engaged in much more personal conversations with AI chatbots like Meta AI about their interests, ideas and activities, it is even more powerful than the “this person you like, too” system.
Mosselli also notes that technology may not be the only one driving excessively accelerating recommendations.
“You might not have actually made it happen before you had a conversation with that ad,” he points out. “We scroll quickly, we scroll quickly with ads, and sometimes we internalize some of it.
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