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Is your phone listening to you?

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A lot of people have had a very creepy experience with their phones. One woman told us, “Sometimes when I talk about something with my friends, then I’ll, like, look on TikTok 30 minutes later – and the same thing will show up.”

One visitor to New York told us, “We were talking about this trip before we came, and then my Instagram reel was just full of New York content for weeks.”

Another woman described talking about trying a type of food with her friends. “And then the second you open the app, it shows you exactly that,” she said. “It’s a bit strange!”

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CBS News

So, is your phone listening to you? “It is not,” said Ari Paparo, an ad industry veteran, consultant and author. “I’ve been asked about this a million times. And I can guarantee you that your phone is not passively listening to you for advertising purposes.”

Paparo has been asked this before. “Oh, my whole family thinks it’s true!” he laughed.

Paparo says that there is no way anyone could process audio from billions of phones. “Listening to every conversation around the world, and interpreting them and looking for certain words, and then matching them to the ads is impossible,” he said.

So, why does it seem like the phone is listening? First, because advertisers do target you with ads tailored to your interests. But they don’t need to listen to what you say to do that. Paparo said, “They can infer or deduce things about you, like where you live, and your age, and probably what you’re interested in, based on what’s websites you went to or what apps you’ve used. And that whole combination can get pretty precise.”

Secondly, because you might live with someone who searched for a product online.

Why did Facebook show me an ad for a carrot peeler, after I told my wife we should get a better peeler? “Your wife could have looked for a peeler, and then the ad company couldn’t really tell the difference between her and you, because you’re using the same internet in the same household,” Paparo said. “That happens a lot.”

David Choffnes, a professor of Computer Science at Northeastern University, wanted to test whether your smartphone is spying on you. “We did a study with thousands of apps on an Android device, and wanted to see, as you interact with these apps, are they recording your audio and sending it off?

“We didn’t see any surreptitious recording of information,” he said. “But these companies are very good at watching everything you’re doing online.”

And what you’re doing in your home. Choffnes has set up a fake apartment filled with online devices – smart appliances, cameras, smart speakers – to study how much data they send. “We try to identify, are they sending data to places we’re not comfortable with?” he said.

Now, advertisers do not know who you are; they don’t have your name or address. But they do know what categories you fit into. 

And many states require data collection companies to give you your advertising on request. Choffnes, for example, got a copy of his data report, which clocks in at more than 300 pages: “Just filled wall-to-wall with inferences about me,” he said.

Although it’s not especially accurate. For example, it says he has an Xbox (“I do not have an Xbox,” he said), and that he’s extremely likely to go on a cruise (“Which is interesting, ’cause I never want to go on a cruise!” he laughed).

If you’d like to minimize the data you’re feeding advertisers, there are a few steps you can take. 

Choffnes also said, “You can push your lawmakers to come up with laws that are favorable for consumers and not just favorable for the businesses that are collecting data from us.”

And Ari Paparo says your choice of web browser matters, too. “The Safari browser doesn’t allow a lot of this,” he said. “Advertisers are not big fans of Apple and Safari.”

To confirm, he doesn’t believe smartphones are eavesdropping: “I’m sure the phone is not overhearing you,” he said.

And he’s equally sure of something else: “I’m positive that no one will believe me!”

     
For more info:

     
Story produced by Mark Hudspeth. Editor: Karen Brenner.

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Gianni Infantino is in a mire of his own making. With the threat of a European boycott, can he ride out the storm?

By CNN
(CNN) — Gianni Infantino lives to fight another day – for now.Despite the continued, unprecedented backlash within and outside of FIFA to his ill-conceived and ultimately ill-fated FFE plan, the Swiss – at least on the surface – remains defiant.In any other walk of life, he’d have packed his bags. Soccer governance, though, operates in an alternative reality.Not willing to go of his accord, he clings on to power, emboldened to muddle through the biggest, self-made storm that has engulfed him and his organization in his 10-year tenure.An apologetic statement this week and commitment to not letting history repeat itself has, though, done little to placate the intensifying scrutiny of his leadership.With European soccer’s governing body, UEFA, doubling down on its threat of a boycott of FIFA competitions and battle lines being drawn up across the global footballing landscape, the question still looms: Is Infantino’s latest gambit a stay of execution, an attempted fightback or the start of a prolonged war of attrition?Fragmented landscapePrior to this summer’s World Cup, it was reported that more than 200 of the 211 national associations that make up FIFA had pledged their support to Infantino for his reelection next year.And up until this point the 56-year-old has appeared Teflon.Concerns surrounding his close ties with US President Donald Trump, outrage at exorbitant ticket prices and immigration policies at the World Cup through to still unanswered questions around the overturning of Folarin Balogun’s ban during the tournament all have been largely brushed under the carpet.The fight over the plan to sell off parts of the World Cup and other signature FIFA events to private businesses has tested that bulletproof presidency. And while there’s since been an unrelenting, concerted effort by UEFA to oust Infantino, from a loss of confidence in his leadership to the threat of legal action against him and his associates, there’s not been the united front that had been anticipated when it comes to change.UEFA commands a great deal of power and clout on and off the pitch, but it’s struggling to shake off the perception of this being another attempted European coup.Put simply, it cannot fight this battle alone.Not only does it need global support to maintain its momentum, it too needs to offer a genuine alternative to the status quo.Herein lies the problem.Power strongholdsOutside of Europe, so far only Jordan – one of a handful of countries not to have signed a letter of support for Infantino’s reelection prior to this crisis – has publicly called for Infantino’s resignation.North and Central America and Caribbean governing body CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have both criticized the FIFA president and rejected the plan.Yet several countries within both confederations have already publicly pledged their loyalty to Infantino, while some are in no rush to commit either way.In a game of fine margins, which way those nations swing could prove crucial.And it’s not just the splitting of votes within confederations where Infantino is pinning his hopes of preserving his position.Like that of his predecessors, João Havelange and Sepp Blatter, Infantino is seeking to rally his core supporters in his traditional power base of Africa.Less wealthy associations within and outside the confederation have relied heavily on FIFA funds via Infantino’s FIFA Forward program, the precursor to FFE, which was introduced by him in 2016.South America’s CONMEBOL has already said it won’t upset the apple cart as it continues its push for a 64-team World Cup in 2030.Meanwhile, the executive committee of the smallest and least wealthy regional confederation, Oceania (OFC), will meet Wednesday to discuss its approach.Numbers gameAlthough severely weakened, Infantino still has his allies and, as it stands, the belief that he has the requisite votes needed to win March’s presidential election.And, at least for now, despite the threat of revolt, internal pressure within FIFA appears to have abated.While some senior figures have spoken out, others have fallen in line.To date, Carlos Cordeiro, formerly Infantino’s senior advisor, is the only high-profile official to have quit.The ball, therefore, is in UEFA’s court as to what to do next.It has several options at its disposal but which one it takes could prove crucial in determining the trajectory of how this saga unfolds.The problem, though, is none of the routes is easily achievable.Short term it could look to initiate an Extraordinary Congress and by default a no-confidence vote in Infantino.UEFA has the numbers to trigger such an action but there’s no guarantee of success.A forcing of an emergency meeting of the FIFA Council is also an avenue but again getting the necessary support may prove too difficult.All indicators, therefore, point toward a challenger being put up to face Infantino in March’s election – the first time an election would be contested since Infantino himself succeeded the discredited Sepp Blatter in 2016.CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani is widely viewed as the most likely rival if enough votes can be generated.The Canadian, though, is yet to publicly comment on the privatization plan fallout or provide an alternative vision to that presented by Infantino.Candidates have until November 18 to put their names forward for the contest.Nuclear optionThis, though, buys Infantino time to ride out the storm, regroup and rebuild.He could offer a route for reform, open up FIFA’s cash reserves or dangle the carrot of new funding. All options are on the table.The question that could cut through all of this is whether UEFA follows through with its threat of a boycott and non-cooperation, both of which could make FIFA ungovernable for Infantino.Not satisfied by Infantino’s walkback, it is a lever that Europe can pull – albeit a dangerous one at the same time.History hasn’t always looked kindly on such a move.A first major test of UEFA’s will is whether its national teams participate in next month’s U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland.Six nations, including the host, are set to compete although UEFA is yet to publicly confirm how it intends to navigate this.CNN has approached FIFA and Poland’s FA for comment.Time is of the essence and the hopes and dreams of players in the balance.Beyond the pitch, tetchiness from FIFA’s lucrative sponsors amid the constant negative publicity could also prove telling.For now, though, soccer’s civil war appears to be heading toward an entrenched standoff of ideas and values.And, as ever, it rests on the game’s true custodians – the fans and players – to keep the very soul of the game alive and intact.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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