Did you know that the
“Facebook does not use microphone audio to inform advertising or News Feed stories in any way. Businesses are able to serve relevant ads based on people’s interests and other demographic information, but not through audio collection,” said Facebook in a recent blog post. "We only access your microphone if you have given our app permission and if you are actively using a specific feature that requires audio. This might include recording a video or using an optional feature we introduced two years ago to include music or other audio in your status updates." Facebook also requires microphone access to record and share live video for the Facebook Live feature.
Facebook's statement was in response to NBC's interview with University of South Florida communications professor Kelli Burns. During the NBC interview, Burns demonstrated the idea that the Facebook app could be "listening" to conversations by talking out loud near her device about wanting to go on an African safari while riding in a jeep. Within 60 seconds, the top post on her feed was a safari-related photo posted three hours earlier and a car advertisement also showed up on the right sidebar.
But after the story went viral, Burns acknowledged that it was blown out of proportion. Burns told the BBC that the photo of the safari posted by her friend probably surfaced to the top of her News Feed due to an increase in user engagement. And she acknowledged that the car advertisement for a Volkswagen vehicle may have appeared because that is the type of car she drives. "Although the angle of the story was supportive of the idea that Facebook uses the microphone I never made the claim that I believe that is happening, or that my one experiment with a reporter was in any way proof of that happening," said Burns via the BBC. Between Facebook's massive user base and humongous trove of user data, it does not surprise me that the social network would coincidentally shows ads about products being talked about from time-to-time.
This is not the first time Facebook was accused of listening to conversations using smartphone microphones. Reddit user NewHoustonian started a discussion last year about whether the Facebook app was listening to conversations for advertising purposes. NewHoustonian started off the discussion with a post -- which has since been removed -- about how he suspects the Facebook app was listening to him because he started seeing pest control ads after talking to his girlfriend about killing a cockroach. That Reddit thread now has over 1,700 comments in regards to Facebook listening to conversations and several of those comments refer to similar experiences.
As Facebook mentioned in its statement, there is a feature that allows you to include music or other audio in a status update. Two years ago Facebook introduced a Shazam-like feature, which recognizes songs, TV shows and movies in order to link to corresponding websites on your status update.
If you aren’t comfortable with Facebook having access to your smartphone microphone, then you can switch it off. Here is how to turn off microphone access on the Facebook app for iOS and Android:
iOS 9: Settings app > scroll down to “Facebook” > tap on “Settings” > switch Microphone to off
Android Marshmallow: Settings app > swipe to “Personal” > “Privacy and safety” > “App permissions” > “Microphone” > Switch the slider to OFF within Facebook
Facebook reported its Q1 2016 results on April 27th -- which revealed that of Facebook’s $5.38 billion in revenue, $5.2 billion was generated from advertising. Facebook’s powerful advertising platform is able to target users based on their interests and web browsing history.
And Facebook recently announced new artificial intelligence technology that is able to determine the meaning and sentiments in status updates to make its ad platform even smarter. Facebook’s artificial intelligence system is known as DeepText. DeepText is able to read thousands of posts and comments per second with “near human” accuracy. By having a better understanding of written text, Facebook will be able to deliver better search results, suggest tools and generate ads that are more relevant to the user.
What are your thoughts about Facebook denying claims in regards to its app listening to conversations? Please leave a comment
