A large media company with which Amazon, Facebook and others cooperate has promoted ads with targeting based on conversations near mobile microphones. A leak now shows this in detail and raises questions.
You’re just talking about a topic in detail and some time later, ads related to it appear on your smartphone. It’s a widespread assumption that microphones in our mobile devices are also used to generate relevant targeting data. The appeal of collecting data for highly personalized advertising is great. At the same time, ads with specific targeting can often be dismissed by saying that you’ve already visited a website on your own device about the topic or expressed preferences.
However, a leaked pitch deck for Active Listening Ad Targeting now shows that advertising based on conversations near smartphones is not a crazy idea. The media group Cox Media Group (CMG) is said to have offered this service and also referred to the cooperation with large platforms such as Facebook, Google, Amazon and Bing. After the first report by 404 Media in December 2023 the first consequences followed.
AI involved: Leak shows how ad targeting is done using interception
After 404 Media reported on the now discontinued advertising program based on intercepted conversations, Google removed CMG from its own partner program. According to information from the publisher, Facebook has since introduced a review and Amazon has stated that it does not work with this CMG program. In a pitch deck from the company – which various radio stations and TV channels Google, Amazon and Facebook are listed as collaborators, but they said they would not access the company’s predictive audience technology. This was designed to draw data for CMG from spoken conversations that users have near microphones on smartphones, laptops and other devices. Based on this data, AI was used to evaluate the targeting options. And brands that work with CMG could advertise their products accordingly.
Although some time has passed since the first reports, there are now explosive insights. 404 Media has a pitch deck leak that shows the benefits of active listening. However, it is not clear whether people were only listening when the microphone was activated or constantly. Because the voice data was combined with behavioral data, such as searching for certain topics or visiting specific websites, it is difficult for users to determine whether they were shown ads based on what was said or their online actions.
Active listening via smartphone etc. – legal practice?
It is questionable whether it would be legal to advertise with intercepted data in Europe. However, active listening is often legal in the USA, as the practice is included in the terms and conditions of many ads. In Europe, data protection laws are known to be stricter – without explicit consent, perhaps even via opt-in, such a practice could be classified as unfair. In Europe, Meta was also not allowed to use consent to the general guidelines as a basis for including user data for AI training. CMG has not yet commented to other publishers after the leak. On the one hand, this is likely to call the seriousness of the CMG Group into question and reignite the debate about listening to smartphones. When asked whether Meta would listen in on conversations for advertising purposes, explains the social media group for example:
No. We know that ads can sometimes be so relevant that it seems like we’re listening to your conversations through your microphone. But that’s not the case. We only use your microphone if you give us permission and when you’re actively using a feature that requires the microphone.
If you want more control over how we use your information to select ads for you, there are several places you can make adjustments. You can find settings for specific types of ads in your advertising preferences, or you can view your information and remove anything you don’t want us to include.
You can find the Pitch Deck Insights in Article by Joseph Cox on the 404 Media site This could be just one example of various advertising mechanisms based on listening practices. It would not be the first time that data in a legal grey area is used to achieve the most effective targeting possible.
Source: onlinemarketing.de
