Facebook Transcribed Audio Chats Without Permission

TechCrunch reports:

“The future is private.” Clearly, Facebook still has a way to go. Facebook has become the latest tech giant to face scrutiny over its handling of users’ data, following a report that said the social media giant collected audio data and recordings from its users and transcribed it using third-party contractors.

The report came from Bloomberg, citing the contractors who requested anonymity for fear of losing their jobs.

According to the report, the audio came from its Messenger app. It’s said Facebook users’ audio conversations were matched against to see if they were properly interpreted by the company’s artificial intelligence.

The Bloomberg report is behind their paywall. Facebook has long denied claims that they listen to people through their phones, however many users say they see Facebook ads for products they’ve recently only spoken aloud about.

Facebook has been paying hundreds of human contractors to listen to audio clips from its users and transcribe them. New from me: https://t.co/uYda6VxRgV

— Sarah Frier (@sarahfrier) August 13, 2019

Facebook confirmed that it had been transcribing users’ audio and said it will no longer do so.

“We paused human review of audio more than a week ago,” the company said Tuesday pic.twitter.com/kA9FsxK0dK

— Bloomberg TicToc (@tictoc) August 13, 2019