Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri busted a highly popular conspiracy theory that the social media giant listens to its users’ conversations through their phone’s microphones in order to show them ads.
In a video posted on his Instagram account, Mosseri categorically denied doing so and noted that it would be a “gross violation of privacy.”
”We do not listen to you. We do not use the phone’s microphone to eavesdrop on you,” Mosseri said in the video.
“If we did, it would be a gross violation of privacy, it would drain your phone’s battery, and you’d see the microphone indicator light up,” he added.
Why you might feel Instagram is listening to your conversations?
Mosseri went on to share four reasons why users might feel that Instagram is listening to their conversations.
First, Mosseri says that the user may have tapped, searched, or visited a website for the product before having the conversation. He also stated that advertisers share data with Instagram about people visiting their websites, and that is then used to target users with advertisements on the platform.
Second, Instagram shows users ads based partly on what their friends or people with similar interests are engaging with. So if a person the user spoke with searched for the product before having the conversation, this could have influenced the kind of ads they see.
“We show people ads that we think that they’re interested in, or products we think they’re interested in, in part, based on what their friends are interested in and what similar people with similar interests are interested in,” Mosseri said.
Third, Mosseri said that since users scroll through ads quickly, they might have subconsciously registered an ad and then bring it up in conversation later, making it feel like the ad appeared “after” the talk.
“We scroll by ads quickly. And sometimes you internalize some of that, and that actually affects what you talk about later,” the Instagram boss noted.
Fourth, Mosseri says it may just have been a coincidence that you see an ad for something you recently discussed.
“I know some of you are just not going to believe me, no matter how much I try to explain it, but I wanted to set the record straight,” Mosseri concluded.
Meanwhile, Mosseri’s comments come at a time when Meta just announced its plans to begin using the conversations of users with its AI chatbot to personalize ads and content across its platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.
