Do you think Instagram is listening to your personal conversation? You must have seen how, after recovering, you have talked about a product or place with a friend, an advertisement for this is magically visible on your feed. And this experience is not yours alone. Over the years, people have been assured that Instagram, and its original company meta, secretly hear through the phone microphone to serve specific advertisements. But according to Adam Mosari, head of Instagram, it is nothing more than a myth. He assures that the company is not spying on your conversation with your device’s microphone.

In a recent video shared on Instagram, Moseri directly addressed the doubts of the users for a long time whether Instagram is actually spying on them through the microphone. MOSSERI assured that “We don’t listen to you. We do not use the phone’s microphone on you,” he said, if the app was really recording secretly, people will notice it. “This will be a gross violation of privacy, it will dry the battery of your phone, and you will see the microphone indicator in light.”

Then how are Instagram ads based on conversation?

So does Instagram explains the dreadful accuracy of advertisements? Mosseri offered many scenarios that may feel that it is not Instagram when it is not.

Users actually clicked or discovered: Mosery suggests that often, people forget that they tap online on the respective product or visit a shopping website before that conversation. He explains that since Meta works with advertisers who track their sites on their sites, users can be targeted for advertisements based on the activity on their platforms including Instagram.

Friends and Luklix affect advertisements: Moseri revealed that Instagram investigates what a user prefers on the platform and also sees what their associated friends and people with equal interest are attached. So if a friend was searching for a product and a user was later to talk about it, there is a possibility that the advertisement was already in the pipeline for the user.

Users must have seen the advertisement first: According to Mosari, sometimes users scroll an advertisement so quickly that it is not consciously registered, only to get into conversation. This former exposure users may think that the advertisement is shown after chat, when it actually came first.

Pure coincidence: Finally, according to the Instagram head, the possibility of seeing an advertisement based on your interaction can only be random. “Coincidence, it happens,” Mosari said.

Despite Moseri’s explanation, he admits that the doubt moves deep. This is not the first time Meta has tried to close the rumor. Back in 2016, Facebook (now Meta) publicly refused using microphones for advertisements. In 2018, CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave a firm “no” during the Senate hearing, when it was directly asked. The company’s support documents also clearly stated: “We do not use your microphone until you allow us, and still, only when you are using a feature that requires.”