Facebook knows a lot about you, from your friends and likes, detailed demographic data and
the web pages you visit.
It uses that information to serve its customers – i.e., the companies who pay Facebook to get their ads in front of the billion-plus people who use the social network for “free.”
Despite all the private information Facebook accesses, the company says it doesn’t spy on your conversations through your phone’s microphone to serve you ads or News Feed articles, according to a
statement Facebook published last Thursday (2 June).
Rumors that the Facebook mobile app uses your microphone to record private conversations have dogged the social media giant since 2014, when it introduced a feature to
identify and share the songs you’re listening to or TV shows you’re watching.