Does Instagram spy on private conversations with your phone mic? Company says…

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri busted a highly popular conspiracy theory that the social media giant listens to its users' conversations through their phone's microphones in order to show them ads.

In a video posted on his Instagram account, Mosseri categorically denied doing so and noted that it would be a ‘gross violation of privacy’.

“We do not listen to you. We do not use the phone’s microphone to eavesdrop on you,” Mosseri said in the video.

“If we did, it would be a gross violation of privacy, it would drain your phone’s battery, and you’d see the microphone indicator light up.” he added

First, Mosseri says that the user may have tapped, searched or visited a website for the product before having the conversation. He also stated that advertisers share data with Instagram about people visiting their websites and that is then used to target users with advertisements on the website.

Second, Instagram shows users ads based partly on what their friends or people with similar interests are engaging with. So if a person the user spoke with searched for the product before having the conversation, this could have influenced the kind of ads they see.

“we show people ads that we think that they're interested in, or products we think they're interested in, in part, based on what their friends are interested in and what similar people with similar interests are interested in.” Mosseri said

Third, Mosseri said that since users scroll through ads quickly they might have subsonsciously registered an ad and then bring it up in conversation later, making it feel like the ad appeared “after” the talk.

“We scroll by ads quickly. And sometimes you internalize some of that, and that actually affects what you talk about later.” the Instagram boss noted

Fourth, Mosseri says it may just have been a coincidence that you see an ad for something you recently discussed.

“I know some of you are just not going to believe me, no matter how much I try to explain it, but I wanted to set the record straight.” Mosseri concluded