Your Phone Isn't Listening: What FTC Filings and Meta's Own Docs Say About Why the Ads Are So Accurate
Northeastern tested 17,260 Android apps and found zero activating the microphone. In May 2026 the FTC ruled that Cox Media Group — the company that claimed to be listening — collected no voice data at all and was reselling data-broker email lists, settling for $930,000. The real pipelines are off-site event feedback, lookalike spillover, contact-graph uploads, and location brokers.