Facebook says it doesn’t eavesdrop on your conversations.
The social media giant denied reports Thursday that their smartphone app gathers data from its users’ everyday conversations, which it in turn uses to suggest personalized advertising.
The denial comes after recent media reports which appear to be referencing a feature the social networking company announced in 2014, which uses your smartphone’s microphone to listen to ambient noise around you.
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The feature was designed to offer users suggestions on what they were doing when updating their status – for example, if you were listening to The Rolling Stones, Facebook would detect the song using the mic and suggest you include that in your status update.
Users were given the choice to turn on the feature, or disable use of the mic altogether.
This feature is not available anywhere outside the U.S. – which means Canadian users have never seen it.
But, according to a quick scan on Twitter, some users really believe Facebook has the ability to listen in on their conversations.
In a statement to Global News, a Facebook spokesperson denied these claims stating, “Facebook does not use microphone audio to inform advertising in any way. Businesses are able to serve relevant ads to people based on other aspects, such as their age, their city and their interests.”
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It’s no secret that Facebook uses your online data, including your search history on other websites, in order to show you targeted advertising.
In 2015, Facebook began collecting data on other websites and apps from Canadian users in order to tailor ads to their likes and interests. This should come as no surprise – Facebook makes money from advertisers, so it’s in the website’s best interest to have its users actually like the ads they are being shown.
Canadian users can opt out of Facebook’s targeted advertising through the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada’s website.
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