Much has been speculated over the years about if smartphones Capture conversations that take place around you and then serve advertising based on what has been said. The official position of technology companies has always been that this is not the case, but the personal experience of many users contradicts this claim. Now, an investigation by 404Media has revealed the case of a company that does admit to listening to users’ conversations and displaying ads based on them.
It is about Cox Media GroupCMG, an American media conglomerate specializing in local information and also offering marketing services. The company admitted in a presentation to investors that its software ‘Active Listening’ uses artificial intelligence to ‘capture real-time intent data by listening to our conversations’according to the media.
CGM stated in the presentation, in which it assured that Google, Facebook and Amazon were among their clients, that ‘advertisers can combine these voice data with behavioral data to target consumers in the market.’ The company charged advertisers between 100 and 200 dollars a day for this service.
Google removed CGM from its partner program after 404Media contacted it to share the information. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has said it is reviewing CGM to see if it violates any of its terms of service and an Amazon spokesperson has told the outlet that ‘has never worked with CMG on this program and has no plans to do so.’
Confirmation of the existence of Active Listening does not only come from the presentation revealed by 404Media. CGM published a blog entry last December in which it talked about this softwareHe later deleted the post, but it can still be viewed on Archive.
Active Listening Technology
In the post, CGM explains that its active listening technology allows you to ‘unlock unmatched advertising efficiency today’, given that ‘We can identify buyers based on casual conversations in real time’ and that ‘provides a weekly list of qualified customers who have expressed a need for your service or product. We then upload the list to your preferred advertising platforms so you can target ads to the right people at the right time.’
Also that ‘by incorporating and analyzing customer data obtained from conversations taking place around smart deviceswe can determine where and when customers are most likely to interact with ads. This system uses artificial intelligence to ‘detect relevant conversations via smartphones, smart TVs and other devices‘.
Asked whether spying on users’ conversations is legal, CGM responds in the post: ‘Yes. It is legal for phones and devices to listen to you.. When downloading or updating a new application prompts users consumers a multi-page terms of use agreementsomewhere in the fine print, active listening is often included.
This is not the only case of this type revealed by 404Media. According to the media, last December, MindSifta New Hampshire-based company, claimed to have used voice data to serve targeted ads by listening to people’s everyday conversations through their devices’ microphones.