For years, there has been a belief that smartphones secretly listen to our conversations to serve us targeted ads. While companies have consistently denied such practices, a recent revelation has reignited the debate.
A marketing agency, Cox Media Group (CMG), has admitted to using an “Active Listening” feature that eavesdrops on conversations via phone microphones to gather data. According to a pitch deck obtained by 404 Media, CMG’s AI-powered software collects real-time behavioral and voice data from 470+ sources, which can then be used by its advertising clients, including Facebook, Google, and Amazon, to target in-market consumers.
When confronted about this, Google removed CMG from its Partners Program, suggesting it no longer works with the agency. Meta (Facebook) said it will investigate CMG to see if the agency violated any of its terms of service, while also reiterating that it does not use phone microphones for ads. Amazon, on the other hand, stated that it has never worked with CMG on this program and has no plans to do so.
The legal implications of CMG’s Active Listening technology are also under scrutiny. The agency claims that it is legal, as the consent to use this feature is buried in the multi-page terms of use agreements that users often overlook when downloading or updating apps.
This controversy reignites the long-standing debate over the use of phone microphones for targeted advertising. In the past, tech companies like Facebook have denied such practices, but the admission by CMG has raised fresh concerns about the extent of data collection and the potential violation of user privacy.
As the debate continues, it remains to be seen how this situation will unfold and what actions, if any, the major tech companies will take to address the concerns raised by CMG’s Active Listening technology.
