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Transcript:
Because I do so much work debunking conspiracy theories, people often ask me if there are any unproven conspiracy theories that I truly believe. It’s a tough question for me because there are some things, like Bigfoot, that I absolutely LOVE but do not sincerely believe. And there are others that I don’t believe per se but I find them plausible, in that I can’t dismiss them out of hand and I wouldn’t be very surprised if they turned out to be true. One of those is the extremely common belief that companies are using our cell phones to listen to us and serve us advertising or otherwise benefitting from our data.
Because, I mean, if they could do that, they absolutely would, right? Facebook has literally supported genocides. They’re not going to balk at the ethics of some light spycraft. And I do notice when I see an ad pop up for something that I’m interested in. In fact, earlier this week I commented to some friends that during one commercial break on a streaming service, I was served an ad for a new rollercoaster I’ve been looking forward to riding, a tourism ad for a state that featured road cyclists while I’m in the middle of training for a 500-mile ride, and an ad for a hotel chain I’ve never stayed in before but which I’m staying in at the end of that 500-mile ride. It was weird that all three felt VERY targeted at me, and this inspired my friends to bring up the listening phone conspiracy theory.
I DID end up being the wet blanket, pointing out that over the years experts have remained adamant that it’s not happening. Back in 2017, a former targeted ads manager at Facebook wrote a detailed overview of why we don’t need to worry about this: the data required to do so would be overwhelmingly expensive for Facebook, it would slow down our phones in a noticeable way, the data they got wouldn’t actually be valuable, and the resulting ads wouldn’t necessarily be well-targeted thanks to the complexities of the way we speak (though I’d argue that LLMs may have checked that one off the list in the decade since it was written).
Instead, these companies get all of our information in much easier ways to target ads at us. I’ve searched online for when that rollercoaster was opening, and I visited the theme park last year after checking out on their website with my credit card. I bought an indoor bike trainer online and then paid for a subscription to Zwift in order to train for that ride that’s coming up. And yeah, I visited that hotel’s website in order to check the amenities. And there’s always the chance that my attempts to protect my privacy online actually worked and all those ads were just coincidences! Maybe people who watch Below Deck Down Under while they eat their dinner are also more likely to like rollercoasters, bicycles, and fancy hotels. Yeah, it’s kinda fancy, I got it using points. Don’t worry, I’m still a woman of the people.
So that’s where I stood with this conspiracy, more or less, until the end of 2023. That’s when 404 Media reported that a company called Cox Media Group, which I will refer to as CMG to avoid saying “Cox” over and over again just in case my phone is listening and gets the wrong idea, but CMG was advertising their ability to listen to consumers via the microphones in their phones, smart TVs, and other devices in order to target ads to them.
“Called “Active Listening,” CMG claims the capability can identify potential customers “based on casual conversations in real time.”
With Active Listening, CMG claims to be able to “target your advertising to the EXACT people you are looking for,” according to its website. The goal is to target potential clients or customers based on what they say in “their day to day conversations,” the website adds. Specifically, those could include:
The car lease ends in a month—we need a plan.
A mini van would be perfect for us.
Do I see mold on the ceiling?
We need to get serious about planning for retirement.
This AC is on it’s [sic] last leg!
We need a better mortgage rate.
“Clients can “claim” a territory where they want to use CMG’s services, which are available in a 10 or 20 mile radius, the website says. After setup, “Active Listening begins and is analyzed via AI to detect pertinent conversations via smartphones, smart tvs and other devices,” the website adds. CMG also claims it installs a tracking pixel on its client’s website to monitor the return on investment (ROI).”
So, case closed, right? Well, no, but I admit that I did leave that article thinking that maybe things have changed dramatically in the past few years, and while they weren’t doing it before, maybe some companies really ARE doing it now. Google and Amazon both denied doing it when 404 reached out, but…they’re evil. Who cares what they say?
And that’s where I fell on this conspiracy theory for the past few years. I don’t believe it, per se, but it’s probable, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out to be true.
Well. This final update honestly made me laugh: last week, the Federal Trade Commission announced that CMG and two smaller firms would need to pay a total of nearly $1 million because it turns out they were fucking lying the entire time:
“In three separate complaints, the FTC alleged that CMG…and two marketing firms it worked with…deceived customers by claiming they used a special algorithm to listen in on and detect pertinent conversations from smart devices in order to target ads to consumers within a specific geographic region. Contrary to these companies’ claims, however, the marketing service wasn’t based on voice data and consumers hadn’t opted into this service.
“According to the complaints, this service did not, in fact, listen in on consumers’ conversations or use voice data at all—nor did the service accurately place ads in customers’ desired locations. Instead, the service the companies provided consisted of reselling—at a significant markup—email lists obtained from other data brokers.”
Hilariously, the companies also got dinged for lying to potential customers that consumers had opted in to having their microphones hijacked, which they weren’t even doing in the first place.
As with most FTC settlements, this one is a drop in the bucket for a giant like CMG. Cox Enterprises, the parent group, is a $20 BILLION company. That’s billion, with a “B”. If you make $75,000 a year in income, this would be like someone fining you $3.75. It’s not even parking ticket territory.
But I’m still glad for this helpful update to a very believable, but still apparently untrue conspiracy theory. No, these companies are not listening to your conversations in order to target you for ads, mostly because they don’t have to.
Still, I am glad I saw that ad for the rollercoaster. It’s gonna be lit.
