Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Has anyone tried to debunk the myth that Facebook is listening?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–87 of 87 posts

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone tried to debunk the myth that Facebook is listening?

#81

Post by logicallee »

momeunier wrote: post #80
logicallee wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you didn't read my proposed methodology carefully. Box Researcher | Owner of phone (outside room) [ ]~ x | o The researchers speaks about some subjects, but not others. The ~ represents that in some cases the researcher's conversations are being fed into the box, and in others they are not. The box is otherwise soundproof, and inside is the phone being tested. We can pick subjects such as: - #1 Adult incontin…

Thanks for explaining further. That would actually be an interesting experiment. Who's going to run it?

Not sure who would run it. Nobody really cares that much.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone tried to debunk the myth that Facebook is listening?

#82

Post by superbrama »

logicallee wrote: post #77
superbrama wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude, cmon. I know this is hn and I’m supposed to put effort into crafting useful responses. But, how have those links convinced you that it must be the mic? From the evidence in those videos, I’d rather be considering whether fb is part of a future AI continuum monitoring and influencing the past (from the future in which the AI exists) by messing with people testing this feature. Yep, cat is alive on Facebook/IG, d…

What other kind of explanation do you expect? People have tested it by playing a Spanish soap opera on their TV for a few hours, leaving their phone in front of it to listen. They then started getting Spanish advertisements. I realize that there is a confirmation bias in that they are then actively looking for Spanish-language ads (to test their theory) but don't you think they would have noticed them at other times?…

One has to be very thorough when reviewing the details of such investigations. For instance, we would want to look at details regarding the experimenter’s cable tv service. If it’s digital perhaps the viewing data was resold to fb.

At the most in those cases there’s enough info to suggest data sharing is going on at the least, but not enough to confirm anything regarding the fb app itself and the mic.

Worth investigating more, though.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone tried to debunk the myth that Facebook is listening?

#83

Post by wildanimal402 »

"Facebook does not use your phone’s microphone to inform ads or to change what you see in News Feed. Some recent articles have suggested that we must be listening to people’s conversations in order to show them relevant ads. This is not true. We show ads based on people’s interests and other profile information – not what you’re talking out loud about,” said Facebook in a statement last year. “We only access your microphone if you have given our app permission and if you are actively using a specific feature that requires audio. This might include recording a video or using an optional feature we introduced two years ago to include music or other audio in your status updates.”

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2017/10/31/faceboo...

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone tried to debunk the myth that Facebook is listening?

#85

Post by hyperbolejoe »

I proposed a thought to Reddit, but have no proof of its possibility either technically or practically.

The people we talk with are generally the people we are connected with on social media. It's feasible to me that a conversation happens and someone in the group makes a search, which then maybe causes algorithms using location data to push those ads to people in that location.

Further, what's being talked about is probably being talked about and searched by others in the area and/or with the same interests, so even if it isn't localized quite so much the possibility of what's being talked about to generate ads is heightened.

Finally, there's the confirmation bias and recency bias at play. Once something is known or on mind, it's more likely to be noticed. They may have already had those ads coming in and only noticed them after talking about it. Or, the ads might have even caused the person to subconsiouciously think about the thing.

The psychology at play in advertising is advanced.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone tried to debunk the myth that Facebook is listening?

#86

Post by jesseddy »

All I know is that things that I have talked about with my phone around 1-2 days prior, I suddenly see ads for. Things I did not Google or mention on the Internet. In one case I started seeing ads on Instagram for a product that I posted a photo of and did not even include the product's name in the post. Dishwashing liquid that I would never even buy (I'm not the target user so it wasn't target marketing).

It's all a little too much for me to believe it's a coincidence.

Post reply on HN