Conspiracy theories about advertisers secretly listening to our phones have been around for years. Now, three companies are in trouble for allegedly pretending they could do just that. The Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday that Cox Media Group and two of its partners will pay nearly $1 million to settle allegations that they misled customers about an AI-powered ad service that they claimed could target consumers based on conversations captured via their smart devices. According to the FTC, the companies, which also include MindSift and 1010 Digital works, allegedly claimed their “Active Listening” service used a special algorithm to detect relevant conversations captured from phones and other devices to target ads to people in specific geographic areas. Cox Media Group first made headlines for the service back in 2023, when its own marketing leaned directly into the creepiness of the conspiracy theories. “It’s True. Your Devices Are Listening to You,” the company’s website read at the time. “With Active Listening, CMG can now use voice data to target your advertising to the EXACT people you are looking for.”
The ideas was that small businesses could target people who used certain phrases in their everyday conversations. One example the company used at the time was: “The AC is on it’s last leg!” Turns out, all of that was fake. The FTC says the service did not actually listen in on consumers’ conversations. Instead, the service allegedly consisted of reselling email lists obtained from data brokers at a significant markup.
