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AIBU?

To think FB is bugging my phone?!

113 replies

WaitingForSunday17 · 21/04/2018 19:34

I spoke with my mum on the phone about something extremely specific. An extremely specific item that you wouldn't normally need.
Ten minutes later it's popped up in my FB ads. How? How is this possible. The specific product and shop my mum mentioned on the phone. It cannot be coincidence.
I'm freaked out. I haven't googled it all and my mum is in her house at a different IP address. She hasn't googled it at my house either.

OP posts:

Report

FriggingMardyCow · 21/04/2018 19:35

Check your settings. Switch microphone off in the app.

WaitingForSunday17 · 21/04/2018 19:41

I'm considering closing my FB account

OP posts:

beyondthesky · 21/04/2018 19:47

It's definitely listening I have heard so many instances of this recently that it can't be coincidence.

BlondeB83 · 21/04/2018 19:56

Switch microphone off in the Facebook settings, this happens all the time.

GeorgeTheHippo · 21/04/2018 19:58

I use FB through the browser rather than installing the app - it cuts down on the storage FB takes up as well.

WaitingForSunday17 · 21/04/2018 20:00

I haven't got the FB app

OP posts:

Scoochywoochy · 21/04/2018 20:01

It does listen. Many programs do now. Deep in the new settings for FB you can tell it you don't want it to share your data with other partners, but what concerned me most was the sentence that said something along the lines of allowing them to receive data from partners - but not necessarily from online habits. This suggests I could use a loyalty card in person to buy an item and it's ultimately shared with FB. I have no idea whether I interpreted that correctly but it's disturbing regardless.

Scoochywoochy · 21/04/2018 20:02

P.S. My Windows laptop also listens - I can hear when it switches the microphone on and off, when it's supposedly asleep. If you don't have the FB app it could be something else listening.

Pinguine · 21/04/2018 20:04

It's absolutely not listening. How do you think a huge company like facebook could get away with that, without a single one of their thousands of employees going rogue and selling the info on it to the press?

Humans are really, really good at picking up on co-incidences. That's why we often see things that aren't there, or read into things more than we should (the classic 'seeing a face drawn in the clouds' being one example).

Facebook ads are targeted in a lot of different ways, including by demographic (for example, young men living in city = likely to buy a suit), by the groups you're in (e.g. in a mum and baby group = likely to buy a pram), by messages (e.g. mention wedding to a friend = likely to click on wedding dress adverts), and by your browsing history depending on your settings and if you're logged in (e.g. google breast feeding = adverts for breast pump).

They also advertise random stuff as their targeting isn't always right- most of which you turn a blind eye to and don't even notice. If, however, you've been thinking about it, and then it happens to be on your page, you are sure to notice it and perhaps then think it's a huge conspiracy. It's really not.

Lacucuracha · 21/04/2018 20:27

It's not listening.

Did your mum search for the item as well? The cookies on your pc would have picked up on your Facebook friend's search.

It's simple online advertising.

Iruka · 21/04/2018 20:37

It doesn’t listen but it does bug your searches on certain websites. So if your mum for the item on that website, then all her friends might see that advert
Reply all podcast did a program on this a while back

Teachtolive · 21/04/2018 20:39

It's absolutely not listening. How do you think a huge company like facebook could get away with that

Turning your Mic on is in the permissions list, as is not letting your phone sleep.

WaitingForSunday17 · 21/04/2018 20:43

My mum has googled it at her own house and then phoned me to tell me. It wouldn't be from our IP address or on any of our devices.
My mum isn't on FB either.

It must have listened. There is no other explanation.

OP posts:

Itsallpropaganda · 21/04/2018 20:44

It definitely does listen. Only yesterday I had a conversation with DH about a very specific item that at no point had I searched for online and within an hour I had Facebook pop up ads for it.

WaitingForSunday17 · 21/04/2018 20:46

ping it cannot be coincidence. There is just no way.
I rescued a tiny bird from my cat this afternoon. It has a broken wing and is going to the vets if it survives the night. My mum had googled - from her house - what it might eat. The answer was sunflower hearts. She said 'wilkinsons sell them, they are £18 for a bag'
Ten minutes later sunflower hearts from wilkinsons for £18 shows up on FB ads.

Cannot be coincidence.

OP posts:

viktoria · 21/04/2018 20:46

I had the same. Somebody/thing is definitely listening.
Go to settings, then privacy, then microphone. You can switch off the microphones you don't need.

TheMonkeyMummy · 21/04/2018 20:47

Could it be a frequency illusion? What is the specific item?

flowerslemonade · 21/04/2018 20:49

Wasn't it in the news about Smart TVs listening recently?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31296188

They warned people not to discuss personal topics in front of the TV. Lol

DoubleRamsey · 21/04/2018 20:50

Did you google birds recently?

I don't know the answer to this but it's interesting! I definitely get ads for things I have googled but not sure about listening.

Alexa definitely listens though! Even when it's not technically on.

TomFun · 21/04/2018 20:51

It must listen. I was telling my husband about a specific product his parents bought in a shop, a brand DH and I don't buy and never talk about usually. Up pops an ad on my Facebook for said product, same brand and from the same shop DHs parents bought the product. Too much of a coincidence.

Scoochywoochy · 21/04/2018 20:52

There are hundreds of apps available on both the Android and Apple platforms that listen. They use software derived from a company called Alphonso. It's designed to listen for TV and film noises only but in order to recognise this type of sound apps will still need to listen. If you are on the telephone and have the TV on in the background it's likely that apps will be listening. The privacy policy for Alphonso software does not hide the fact that it collects audio data. I don't see how you can say 100% that an app isn't listening or utilising audio data, especially when so many of them share data so readily.

FabulouslyFab · 21/04/2018 20:53

I’ve had the same thing. Called my daughter over something so totally random and next time I looked at FB an ad popped up for a gadget that would have helped my predicament. It was no coincidence.
But then on the other hand if they are listening how come they aren’t picking up paedophiles and terrorists??

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qu1rky · 21/04/2018 20:55

We spoke about Fage yoghurt one lunchtime. Next thing it's on my FB ad's.
So yes, I do think it's listening.
I'm off to look at my settings.

ScienceNut · 21/04/2018 20:56

Are you on a Samsung? I have heard that the android os has the ability to listen?

CaraDeanna · 21/04/2018 21:00

Facebook isn't listening to you.

There are over a billion mobile Facebook users worldwide. How would a team even start to process that data? Siri is pretty state of the art and screws up all the time. Do you really think Facebook has better technology? So good that it can filter out when you are referring to products that you specifically need?

It would also most likely have been leaked by now if Facebook was really recording you...

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