Ask HN: Why does Facebook.com activate the microphone?

24 points35mm3mo ago10 comments

In Safari on macOS when visiting the Facebook newsfeed, the system mic active icon appears in the menu bar and says that Safari is using it.

I haven't granted permission. When I asked ChatGPT it said 'Safari creates an audio capture session even if the user has not granted microphone permission, for capability negotiation, but no audio data leaves the device until permission is granted.' - is that accurate?

10 comments

iamthejuan3mo ago

Regarding Facebook is listening, my girlfriend and I was taking few years back around 2021, we usually keep our call for more than 24hrs at a time. One evening we were talking then suddenly we heard a man, talking as if he is in an office then we both stopped and listened, and he just stopped as if he accidentally unmuted. This happened again the next, night but this time it is a woman. Same, as if they were in an office environment. They were talking in English, we are not listening to anything, we were just talking then suddenly we heard them, and also we are not a native English speaker, we do not talk in English during our call. That is the the time we decided to switch to Signal, which as many say is more secure.

more_corn3mo ago

So it can listen to you and serve ads that track your every movement, word and thought like an uncanny evil genie?

Better question, why are you still on facebook?

bunnybomb23mo ago

Cause they are listening to you to sell data to ad companies. all hail facebook

Remember when people paid $50 for amazon alexa to spy on all ur Conversations ?

iJohnDoe3mo ago

There are way too many coincidences regarding in-person conversations and Facebook ads appearing.

What people don’t understand is that voice compresses extremely well. It doesn’t need to be stereo or high-def for processing. VoIP has been around for more than two decades and worked over 128kb connection speeds for actual phone calls. With LTE and 5G, it would be almost impossible to notice compressed and encrypted voice transmissions. It would look like any other HTTPS connection because it’s just data sent for processing. It’s not a two-way call. It’s compressed audio for transcription, if it’s not already being transcribed on the device itself.

codegeek3mo ago

facebook is definitely listening. We have had many instances where wife and I discussed something and an ad appeared on fb related to that.

AstroNutt3mo ago

Right before the lockdown, my buddy and I were talking about repairing the dock at his Dad's lake house. We never searched online for anything, since between the two of us, we already had the materials on hand and both of us are mechanically inclined. It was just a random conversation in his office about what supplies we'd need to gather up for the weekend.

The very next day I was visiting Phys.org like I usually do and an ad appeared about dock supplies and repair. I don't even have Facebook and never have! He does and is kind of active on Facebook. Both of our phones were with us at the time of the conversation and I was connected to his WiFi network at the time. I'm on Android and he's on Apple user. Out of all the ads they could have pushed to me... dock repair!? I wish I still had that screenshot I sent him. It creeped us both out.

fuzzfactor3mo ago

“Oh, Grandma, what big ears you have!”

“The better to hear you with, my child,” came the growling reply.

pulvinar3mo ago

That's odd. ChatGPT (5.1) tells me Safari does not open an audio capture session for 'capability negotiation' that would show the mic icon.

I assume you have Safari > Settings > Websites > Microphone > facebook.com set to the default "Ask", or to "Deny"? Also check any installed extensions.

35mmOP3mo ago

It's set to "Ask". I just checked again and Facebook is no longer activating the microphone. A glitch before maybe?

factorialboy3mo ago

If chat GPT is to be believed, this sounds like a safari bug that Facebook exploits. Perhaps others do it too.

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