It’s no secret that Facebook spies on everything that you do online with the sort of chilling efficiency that you’d associate with secret police in a dictatorship.
A tablet with a Facebook logo is seen in this photo illustration on October 6, 2017 in Bydgoszcz, Poland. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
But does the social media giant listen to every word you say near your smartphone – then serve up adverts based on what you say? Lots of people claim they’ve witnessed it happening – but a senior Facebook advertising exec has said that it definitely doesn’t ‘listen in’.
Rob Goldman, the company’s vice president of advertising, says, ‘I run ads product at Facebook. We don’t – and have never – used your microphone for ads. Just not true.’ People chimed in on Twitter with their own tales of times when Facebook served up spooky adverts similar to what they were just talking about.
Reply All is taking phone calls today. Call us if you believe that Facebook uses your mic to spy on you for ad reasons. 3PM ET. 917-267-5180
— PJ Vogt (@PJVogt) October 26, 2017
Experts suggest that these ‘coincidences’ are caused by Frequency Illusion – where you learn about something, and then start seeing it everywhere. Facebook has consistently denied ‘listening’ to users.
