Social media’s targeted ads are so creepily good that people have long believed their apps are secretly recording their conversations. This isn’t true — and Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri posted a “myth-busting video” on Wednesday to tackle the myth head on.
Mosseri says that Instagram listening to you would be “gross violation of privacy,” and that you’d notice if it was, since it would noticeably drain your battery and the microphone notification would appear on your phone. (It’s also banned by the federal Wiretap Act and by several state laws.)
Instead, Instagram’s CEO lists a series of ways, including “pure coincidence,” that it might seem that the ads served on the social media app appear as if they’d been ripped right from your private conversations:
Instagram and other social media apps don’t need to listen to your conversations: they already take notice of every move you make in the apps, what you click on and the profiles you interact with. And that’s not taking into account advertisers and data brokers that already have your information. Plus, Instagram knows everything about you and your likes from your Facebook and Threads accounts, since all are owned by Meta.
More often than not, we freely give our information out by agreeing to use platforms that clearly state they will track our behavior while using them. Your patterns, interests and interactions are all digested, and ads are served to you with eerie accuracy by design. No listening necessary.
For a deep dive on this, check out ‘s feature: No, Your iPhone Isn’t Listening to You. But the Truth Is Even Worse
