In a recent interview with CBS News, Instagram head Adam Mosseri assured users that Instagram isn’t listening in on people’s private conversations it’s just “dumb luck” that ads appear to be suspiciously accurate.
In a recent interview with CBS This Morning Adam Mosseri, the head of the Facebook-owned image sharing app Instagram, sat down with co-host Gayle King to discuss the future of Instagram as a platform. Mosseri discussed a number of changes that the company is considering making, stating: “One of the ideas we’re currently experimenting with is like counts private, for instance, ’cause we don’t want Instagram to be such a competition. We want it to be a place where people spend more of their energy connecting with the people that they love and the things that they care about.”
This would be a vast shakeup to how Instagram works as a platform, given that social media likes and posts are a key part of the operation of the platform. King asked if seeing the number of likes you get isn’t part of the fun of the platform to which Mosseri replied: “Well, you can still like in this current test. You just can’t see the number of likes unless it’s your own post. So you don’t have to do all this social comparison,” Mosseri said. “We will do things that mean people use Instagram less if we think that they keep people safe or generally create a healthier environment. And I think we have to be willing to do that.”
King asked if the company was “healthy” under Mosseri’s leadership after 9 months at the helm to which he replied: “We have a growing Instagram. We have an Instagram that has a lot – a bright future in front of it. But there’s definitely a lot of things to work through. So maybe a tentative yes.”
At one point King brought up a phenomenon that many readers may have experienced themselves — talking about a topic or product and suddenly seeing ads for that topic or product appearing on social media, as if you are being spied on. “Can you help me understand how I can be having a private conversation with someone about something I’m interested in seeing or buying… and an advertisement for that will pop up on my Instagram feed,” King asked. “I haven’t searched for it, I haven’t talked to anybody about it. I swear I think you guys are listening. I know you’re gonna say you’re not.”
Mosseri explained this, stating:”There are two ways that can happen. One is dumb luck, which can happen. The second is you might be talking about something because it’s top of mind because you’ve been interacting with that type of content more recently. So maybe you’re really into food and restaurants. You saw a restaurant on Facebook or Instagram and you really like the thing. It’s top of mind, maybe it’s subconscious and then it bubbles up later. I think this kind of thing happens often in a way that’s really subtle.
But we don’t look at your messages, we don’t listen in on your microphone, doing so would be super problematic for a lot of different reasons. But I recognize you’re not gonna really believe me.
Listen to the full interview at CBS News here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
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