Does Facebook Listen to Your Conversations?
The rumor that has been all over the internet for some time is that Facebook employees themselves or with their use of software listens to all of our conversations if the application is open.
Is it true?
The founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg has answered that question twice during his unsworn testimony in front of a Senate Committee.
He said the answer is no!
For years we have heard rumors that Facebook users have publicly speculated the app might be spying on them through their smartphone's microphone. Why do people believe their conversations are being heard, in order to target specific ads to be brought to their attention.
Michigan Senator Gary Peters asked that question directly to Mark Zuckerberg to either affirm it or put this conspiracy theory to bed. Senator Peters said to Mr. Zuckerberg that he has heard from members of his own staff that they believe Facebook is "mining audio" to gather personal information about them and other users.
As reported by The Business Insider Mr. Zuckerberg stated to Senator Peters and the rest of the committee the following:
My understanding is that a lot of these cases that you're talking about are a coincidence…Someone might be talking about something, but then they also go to a website or interact with it on Facebook because they were talking about it, and maybe they'll see the ad because of that
He went on to say that Facebook does not listen to unauthorized audio, and then went further and claimed that he isn't aware of any similar tech company that does.
Mr. Zuckerberg did state that the only time Facebook records someone’s audio is when a user records a video themselves. He then went on to explain that audio is not used for targeting ads.
Do you believe him?
Could it be that users were searching for certain goods or services, talking about their search with a friend or family member and then ads start popping up on computer or smart phone?
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