“Smartphones use their microphones to actively listen to users' conversations in order to serve targeted advertisements.”

A growing number of people believe their phones listen to their conversations and share what they say or do with advertisers. Fortunately, this is technologically implausible at scale. Continuous speech recognition and transcription on billions of active devices would require enormous processing power, draining a phone's battery within hours or resulting in massive, constant uploads of audio data, both of which would be easy to detect. The most likely explanation for highly personalized ads is data correlation, where apps use location data to infer co-presence and correlate interests, profiles, and local events, combined with web trackers and cookies.

A leaked pitch deck from CMG Local Solutions, a subsidiary of Cox Media Group (CMG), details a method it calls 'active listening,' which uses AI to combine voice data with online behavioral data for hyper-targeted advertising. The deck, obtained by 404 Media, states that advertisers can pair this voice-data with behavioral data to target 'in-market consumers' and create ad lists based on their spoken intentions. However, a Meta spokesperson denied using phone microphones for ads and stated they are investigating CMG's claims.

Mark Zuckerberg was asked pointedly in a Senate hearing by Senator Gary Peters (MI) in 2018 if its apps use smartphone microphones to collect ambient voice data to target ads — he responded, directly, that the company doesn't. The idea that advertising platforms — and especially boutique advertising agencies — can harvest audio data from smartphones to use for ads targeting is almost certainly a delirious myth.

Concerns about online targeted advertising and privacy are valid, but this doesn't mean that your phone passively listens to private conversations to serve you more specific ads. There are nuggets of proof that Amazon and Google store audio snippets, however, this personal data is not sold, nor is it available for any advertiser to use. Responsible advertisers, including those at Grapeseed, rely on ethical data practices, leveraging anonymized, predictive data rather than secretly recorded conversations to drive results.

A recent report by TweakTown highlights how a third-party partner of Facebook disclosed using smartphone microphones to collect data that informs targeted advertising. This admission fuels long-standing fears that devices are listening to users. While Facebook has repeatedly denied accusations of listening to private conversations for ad purposes, this revelation from a partner casts doubt on those assurances, emphasizing that apps often request microphone access for legitimate reasons, but the management of these permissions is unclear.

New research from Esade's David López-López and co-authors from two other top Spanish universities suggests that mobile devices listen to conversations through microphones and create personalized ads based on what the person wants or has done. In their observations, at least one ad related to the general subject discussed was received in 100% of tests, and in half of the tests, an ad specifically related to the destination being discussed appeared.

Both Google and Meta publicly deny using phone microphones to listen to conversations for ad targeting, stating they only access the mic with user permission for features like voice search. However, the article notes that the level of personal tracking by these companies is extensive, monitoring search history, websites, locations, apps, and contacts, which allows for highly accurate ad targeting without direct eavesdropping. It also highlights a history of privacy boundary pushing by these companies, including instances of contractors listening to voice assistant recordings.

Large tech companies, including Facebook, have repeatedly denied using phone microphones for ad targeting, stating they rely on interests and profile information. Independent scientific research, such as a 2019 Wandera experiment, found no evidence of apps secretly listening to microphones for ad purposes, nor any noticeable difference in data traffic. A Northeastern University study of over 17,000 Android apps also found no unauthorized microphone activation, though it did uncover other privacy concerns like hidden screenshots.

Your phone isn't constantly recording your conversations for advertising purposes, despite what many people believe. Modern smartphones use sophisticated microphone systems that primarily activate for specific wake words or when you deliberately use voice features. Coincidental advertising happens because companies collect extensive data about your behavior, location, and interests through multiple channels that don't require listening to conversations.

While iPhones are not actively recording private chats to serve ads, the reality of targeted advertising is complex. Apple and Google deny listening to users without consent or selling data for marketing. Instead, targeted ads are primarily driven by extensive behavioral data collection, including browsing history, search queries, app usage, and location data, which algorithms analyze to build user interest profiles. Users can manage privacy settings by disabling microphone access for unnecessary apps and utilizing app tracking transparency features.

According to a leaked presentation by a marketing company, your phones are always listening to you! That's what marketing company Cox Media Group (CMG) has claimed in a pitch deck about targeted advertising to potential clients. In the deck, CMG claimed that “yes, our phones are listening to us” and that “it is legal for phones and devices to listen to you and for third parties to collect that data”.

Both Google and Meta (the company behind Facebook and Instagram) publicly deny using your phone's microphone to listen to conversations for ad targeting. They say they only access your mic when you give permission—like when using voice search or recording a video—and that any data collected is used to improve services, not serve ads.

Cox Media Group (CMG), a multibillion-dollar media empire that owns and operates TV and radio stations worldwide, admitted it's doing just that. 404 Media gathered published marketing information from CMG and determined that it uses AI to identify conversations via smart devices – collecting information about our spending behaviors, interests and how we spend our time – to deliver ads to us. CMG calls it “Active Listening.” CMG later published a statement saying, “CMG businesses do not listen to any conversations or have access to anything beyond a third-party aggregated, anonymized and fully encrypted data set that can be used for ad placement. We regret any confusion…”

If an app requests access to the camera, microphone, or contacts, it can technically use those resources. Therefore, blindly allowing permissions can be risky. Best practice is to: Allow only required permissions. Limit microphone and camera access. Disable background location access.