Memphis Standard

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) has sent letters to the leadership of Cox Media Group and its clients, Google and Meta, following reports that Cox Media Group admitted to using "Active Listening" software to monitor users' smartphone conversations.

The reports suggest that Cox Media Group targets advertisements based on phone conversations of potential customers. Specific clients mentioned during a presentation to investors include Google and Meta, both of which have histories of consumer privacy issues.

“I write today with concerns following recent reporting by the New York Post that Cox Media Group has admitted to investors that it deploys ‘active listening’ software, which uses artificial intelligence to ‘capture real-time intent data by listening to [users] phone conversations,’” Blackburn stated.

She emphasized longstanding consumer concerns about online privacy: “Consumers have long expressed concerns about their privacy in the virtual space and how their data is misused. If this reporting is true, it confirms longstanding suspicions by many consumers that technology and media companies are violating their privacy for profit by marketing products that closely reflect key words or phrases from private conversations. It is imperative that consumers have the ability to clearly opt in and out of features that track their behavior and that they are alerted when these features are deployed. I request a copy of the slide deck presented to investors.”

Blackburn also demanded transparency from Google and Meta regarding their use of "Active Listening" tools: “I am seeking answers regarding Google’s [and Meta’s] relationship with Cox Media Group, the extent to which, if at all, ‘active listening’ tools were deployed on users, the steps Google [and Meta] [are] taking to investigate the products and services from Cox Media Group used by Google [and on Facebook] and the extent to which those products may have violated any applicable privacy policies or user agreements [and users’ privacy].”

Google previously settled a $5 billion lawsuit over claims it secretly tracked internet usage. The Federal Trade Commission imposed a $5 billion penalty on Facebook in 2019 for violating consumer privacy rights.