A media company and two of its marketing partners have been fined for selling a service which, they said, listened in to people’s conversations through their phones. Actually they did nothing of the sort.
Most people have worried at some point that their phone has been listening to them through the microphone. You know how it goes: One minute you’re speaking to your friend about how you’ve always wanted to go to Fiji, the next minute you’re seeing social media ads for vacations there. However, as yet there hasn’t been much real proof that this is actually happening.
But that didn’t stop Cox Media Group from claiming it could listen in. Between 2023 and 2024, the company publicly promoted a service called “Active Listening” or “Voice Data,” claiming it used AI-powered voice-processing technology to capture conversations from smartphones, along with smart TVs and other devices with embedded microphones.
The company told potential advertising clients that the system provided a tool to target, retarget, and retain customers.
The scandal came to light when 404 Media published internal pitch decks from Cox that detailed the supposed “Active Listening” capabilities. After the revelations, Cox initially backpedaled and denied listening to conversations, but the marketing materials contradicted these denials.
