{"id":56055,"date":"2025-10-01T23:59:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T23:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/56055\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T23:59:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T23:59:06","slug":"instagram-head-says-company-is-not-using-your-microphone-to-listen-to-you-with-ai-data-it-wont-need-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/56055\/","title":{"rendered":"Instagram head says company is not using your microphone to listen to you (with AI data, it won’t need to)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Instagram head Adam Mosseri posted on his account<\/a> on Wednesday to dispel the myth that the social networking giant is actively \u201clistening\u201d to its users surreptitiously, in order to target them with relevant ads. The idea that Meta would secretly turn on the microphones on users\u2019 phones to record their conversations is an age-old conspiracy<\/a> theory<\/a> \u2014 and one that the company has disputed before.<\/p>\n

But, ironically, Mosseri\u2019s new myth-busting claim comes just as Meta has announced<\/a> it will soon target ads to users across its social apps using data collected from their interactions with its AI products.<\/p>\n

In other words, if Meta didn\u2019t need to record your conversations via your microphone before to produce eerily accurate recommendations, it definitely won\u2019t need to now.<\/p>\n

On Instagram, Mosseri says he\u2019s had a number of conversations about Meta listening to its users, many of whom can\u2019t believe how well the company\u2019s ad targeting actually works. (Even his wife has brought up the topic, he says.)<\/p>\n

By now, most of us have either had the experience ourselves or at least know someone who claims that Meta must have been secretly recording them to know what they were likely to click on. Sometimes, you are only thinking about a topic or product, and then see the content appear in your feed, making it seem as if Meta is a mind reader.<\/p>\n

The company has repeatedly disputed these claims, trying to explain that it doesn\u2019t have to record your conversations to make its recommendations so successful. (Mosseri also says that would be a \u201cgross violation of privacy,\u201d but<\/a> Meta<\/a> is<\/a> not<\/a> a<\/a> company<\/a> that<\/a> typically<\/a> drives<\/a> decisions<\/a> with<\/a> user<\/a> privacy<\/a> in<\/a> mind<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Still, the company doesn\u2019t necessarily have to \u201clisten\u201d to users to listen to them.<\/p>\n

Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 27-29, 2025\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

In 2016, Meta (then known as Facebook) published a blog post<\/a> that outright stated that it didn\u2019t use your phone\u2019s microphone to determine what ads to show users or what content appears in their News Feed. Years later, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress, denying<\/a> once again that the company was collecting users\u2019 audio data for this purpose.<\/p>\n

Happy to have something it can deny on the privacy front, just as it\u2019s about to scoop up more data than ever before, Mosseri reiterates these points in his post on Instagram.<\/p>\n

He says that, for starters, users would know if their phone\u2019s microphone was on because they would see a light at the top of their screen, and the phone\u2019s battery would drain faster.<\/p>\n

Instead, Mosseri explains that the tech giant\u2019s 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. That information helps Meta target users with relevant ads. In addition, the company shows people ads that it thinks they may be interested in based on what similar people with similar interests are also interested in. This algorithm-based ad tech has made Meta a money-printing machine over the years.<\/p>\n

Now Meta is going to leverage AI to make these ad-targeting decisions. So if people thought they were being listened to before, it will only get worse. The company said its new privacy policy, which is being released on December 16, will allow it to use data from consumers\u2019 interactions with its AI products in most markets as another signal. And it\u2019s a potentially even more powerful one than the \u201cpeople who like this also like that\u201d system, given that users are engaging in far more personal conversations with AI chatbots like Meta AI about their interests, ideas, and activities.<\/p>\n

Mosseri also points out that sometimes it\u2019s not technology alone that\u2019s driving the hyper-accurate recommendations \u2014 it\u2019s either just a coincidence or a bit of human psychology at play.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou might have actually seen that ad before you had the conversation and not realized it,\u201d he points out. \u201cWe scroll quickly. We scroll by ads quickly. And sometimes you internalize some of that, and that actually affects what you talk about later,\u201d Mosseri says. <\/p>\n