"On a comment about using audio and processing audio, you can use it for, my understanding generally of how companies use it... not just Facebook, but generally other apps that pull audio, is for environmental context," Wylie said. "So if, for example, you have a television playing versus if you're in a busy place with a lot of people talking versus a work environment." He clarified, "It's not to say they're listening to what you're saying. It's not natural language processing. That would be hard to scale. But to understand the environmental context of where you are to improve the contextual value of the ad itself" is possible.
Wylie continued: "There's audio that could be useful just in terms of are you in an office environment, are you outside, are you watching TV?"
Facebook has long denied allegations that its app listens in on users in order to customize ads.
“I run ads product at Facebook. We don't - and have never - used your microphone for ads. Just not true,” Rob Goldman, vice president of ads products at Facebook, tweeted on October 2017. "That includes Facebook-owned Instagram," he added.
But users have raised concerns about the practice after observing that they've been targeted with ads for products they've never expressed an interest in online. Many Facebook users have reported examples and alleged evidence that the app is listening in on their conversations.
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