It’s Coming. Meta Seeks Patent to Listen to Your Conversations.

Meta may soon turn conspiracy theories into reality. The company has filed for a patent that would do what everyone has believed they’ve been able to do up to now: Listen to users, then target them with ads.

🎯 Turning Eavesdropping into Targeted Ads

The tech, called “user identification with voiceprints,” captures a user’s voice to identify and authenticate them on social media networks. It could be used as part of a two-factor authentication system, alongside passwords or other biometric scans.

But Meta’s intentions go beyond authentication.

According to the filing, these voiceprints could let the company provide “customized content to the identified users.” For instance, if the system detects users speaking, it will tailor content to match their interests, including:

• Advertisements
• News feed changes
• Place tips
• Coupons

This means that if you speak within range of Meta’s system while it’s capturing that audio, you might see ads on your Facebook feed about what you’d talked about. And not just you, but others in the room who happen to have been speaking during the audio capture.