Is your phone secretly listening to your conversations with friends or family?

 Is your phone secretly listening to your conversations with friends or family?

Many mobile users have had a very ‘strange and scary’ experience – when you open a social media account and within moments of chatting with a friend about a specific topic, an ad for the exact same topic appears. This has raised a big question among the general public: is our phone secretly listening to what we say?

Many users have shared such experiences. “Sometimes I’ll be chatting with my friends and 30 minutes later I’ll be on TikTok and an ad for the exact same topic appears,” said one woman. Another person said that after talking about her plans to visit New York, her Instagram reels were filled with New York content for weeks. Similarly, another woman shared that she opened the app shortly after talking about a particular dish and then saw an ad for the exact same food.

What do the experts say?

According to Ari Paparo, a veteran advertising consultant and author, phones are not passively listening to people for advertising. “I can guarantee that your phone is not listening to you for advertising,” he said. According to Paparo, it is technically impossible to listen to billions of people around the world, interpret them, find specific words, and match them to ads. However, he says, “I know that no one will believe me.”

So how do ads come to you? Even though phones are not listening, advertisers are very accurate about your interests. According to Paparo, there are two main reasons for this.

The first is inference and inference. Advertisers make inferences about your interests based on details such as what websites you visit, what apps you use, how old you are, and where you live. This combination of data is very accurate.

The other is family environment. If a member of your family or someone you live with searches for something on the Internet, the advertiser can show you the same ad. Because you are using the same home Internet (IP Address). For example, if your wife searches for 'carrot peeler', her husband may also see an ad for it on his phone.

Scientific study results

David Choffness, a professor of computer science at Northeastern University, conducted a study of thousands of Android apps. He tested whether the apps recorded audio and sent it somewhere without the user's permission. "We did not find any information recorded secretly," said Choffness. However, he said that these companies are very keen to monitor every activity that users do online.

When Choffness requested a report on his advertising data, he received a report that was more than 300 pages long. In it, there were many assumptions made about him. Interestingly, those assumptions are not always correct. His report stated that he plays an Xbox and is keen to go on a cruise, while Chofness neither has an Xbox nor does he want to go on a cruise.

Ways to keep your data safe

If you want to give less of your data to advertisers, experts suggest some steps you can take.

According to Ari Paparo, Apple's Safari browser blocks a lot of tracking. Which advertisers don't like. According to Chofness, it is necessary to pressure policymakers to create stricter data protection laws in the interests of consumers. In places like California, thousands of people have signed up for new tools that allow them to remove their details from data brokers.

Finally, the digital footprints you leave online have proven to be more powerful for advertisers than listening to your conversations.