Many users have encountered such a situation. Shortly after discussing a certain topic, advertisements related to that topic appear on TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms. This has led to the widespread belief that the phone is listening to us.
Medianews.az reports to Lent.az that according to advertising experts, smartphones do not constantly record users' conversations for advertising purposes nor do they transmit this data to servers.
The volume of data required for such a process would be very large and is considered economically inefficient. So where does this accuracy come from? Experts explain that advertising systems are based on user behavior. Search history, visited websites, geolocation, app activity, interests, and even the activity of other people on the same Wi-Fi network are analyzed.
For example, if one family member searches for a specific product online, it is possible for advertisements related to that product to appear on the device of another person using the same network. This creates the feeling in the user that "they are listening to me."
Various studies also show that there is no evidence that smartphones secretly record conversations to use for advertising. Instead, algorithms that analyze user behavior have developed to such an extent that it appears as if they are reading human thoughts.
Nevertheless, experts note that the phone uses the microphone in certain cases. For instance, when a voice assistant is activated or when apps are given permission, the microphone may be on.
For this reason, users are advised to check privacy settings and monitor apps' access to the microphone.
Overall, experts agree that smartphones do not secretly listen to you for advertising purposes. This feeling is mostly associated with the strong information analytics algorithms accurately predicting user interests.