Media Cox Group, a media company, has introduced a targeted advertising tool to technology companies that uses audio recordings from smartphones and other devices to target consumers.
Revelations that will not reassure those who think they are being spied on by their smartphone. Media Cox Group, a media giant in the United States, claims to be able to listen to conversations to send targeted advertising to consumers.
While the technology used for this was revealed last December, new information has been revealed in a document that was presented to companies and that the American media 404 media was able to consult.
Dubbed “active listening,” the tool works by using “smart devices” that can “record intent data in real time by listening to our conversations.” Advertisers can then “combine this voice data with behavioral data to target in-market consumers,” the document says.
Google, Amazon and Meta deny any use
Cox Media Group further specifies that its tool uses artificial intelligence to “collect this data from more than 470 sources to improve the deployment, targeting and performance of campaigns.”
The company intends to enable companies to reach their potential customers before their competitors. The document also mentions an association with large technology companies, namely Google, Amazon and Facebook. “We partner with the best to offer the best,” we can read.
But all three companies categorically deny using such a tool. After being contacted by 404 Media, Google removed the company – which also offers other, more traditional advertising tools – from its partnership program. “All advertisers must comply with all applicable laws and regulations as well as the Google Ads rules,” the company explained.
“Amazon Ads has never worked with CMG on this program and has no intention of doing so,” Amazon assured the American site Gizmodo.
Finally, Meta, Facebook’s parent company, defended itself by specifying that it is mentioned as a “marketing partner” in the Cox Media Group document, “and not as a partner ‘in this program'”.
The company also pointed to a blog post by Gizmodo in which it assures that it does not use the phones’ microphones to send targeted advertising to users.
