Are Facebook and social networks really listening to you?

“ It's a question I hear all the time, and the answer is 'social media isn't listening to you,'” cybersecurity expert Jake Moore asserted when asked about concerns around online platforms' targeted advertising practices.

Jake is currently a Global Cybersecurity Advisor for security company ESET with over a decade of working against online threats. Based on his experience, he affirms that Facebook, Meta, Instagram or other social networks do not eavesdrop on conversations.

" They don't have the ability to eavesdrop. I have never seen any solid scientific evidence to support a suspicion, while I have heard thousands of fabricated anecdotes ," he said.

So if Facebook isn’t listening in, how can it show ads that are tailored to users’ needs shortly after they mention a relevant topic in their conversations? These ads can be ads for personal items, household items, or even the intention to buy a pillow.

First of all, users need to understand that the phone has the ability to "listen" to sounds from the environment, including the user's conversation content. This feature allows virtual assistants to understand and operate when allowed. For example, when the user says "Siri" or "OK Google", the smartphone will have to respond and start waiting for commands.

Users are always skeptical about the eavesdropping capabilities of social networks and smart devices around them.

What smartphones are not allowed to do is listen to everything their owners say without them knowing. They cannot extract conversations and then serve ads from apps to users based on the information they get from the microphone.

This limitation doesn't stop companies like Meta or Google from knowing more about device owners, sometimes than they realize.

Specifically, these businesses know each person's age, gender, family status, where they live, visit or work. Their friends, interests, the information they search for, the content they often consume, which brands of goods are popular, and topics of interest.

All of this is already in the Meta and Google databases. BigTechs (large technology companies) are also "skilled" at connecting each of the above data together. This connection creates an information network that is used to "zone" the type of advertising that the system determines is most suitable for users, which are the ads that they are most likely to click on.

Another influence is the brain's attention-generating effect, which is often overlooked. For example, you buy a new car and soon start to notice a lot of similar cars from the same manufacturer, model, or color driving on the road (at the same time as you).

Of course, that number doesn't just appear in front of your eyes after you buy a new car, but because your brain starts to notice the features of the car you just bought.

The same thing happens with Internet content, where the brain tends to focus on one (or a few) important, current, and immediately actionable facts to avoid overwhelming people with information.

Many studies confirm that humans speak thousands of different words every day, certainly some of which are keywords that can be related to products, services or online advertisements. At the same time, the amount of advertisements we are "invited to consume" is up to hundreds every day.

If phones were listening in to deliver targeted ads, the number of accurate impressions would be much higher than just a few. But people don’t pay attention to the hundreds of instances where ads “slip” what they’ve already mentioned. Instead, users only pay attention to the matches because what’s shown in the ad already exists in their mind, in a conversation with someone.

As mentioned, Meta and Google are both very good at connecting the data they have, even linking it together to understand users and habits better than they do themselves.

If you suddenly see an ad for your favorite restaurant after you mention it, it’s likely because BigTech knows you’ve been there multiple times during a certain time of day, so the ad will appear at that time regardless of whether you mention it or not.

Khanh Linh

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