Facebook Found To Have Paid Contractors To Transcribe Audio Chats Of Its Users

Facebook just can’t seem to keep themselves out of privacy scandals. In the latest report from Bloomberg, it has been revealed that Facebook has actually been paying third-party contractors to transcribe the audio chats on its users, a move which the company has confirmed and stated that they have since put on pause.

According to a statement made by the company in response to the reports, “Much like Apple and Google, we paused human review of audio more than a week ago.” The company adds that users who were affected actually chose the option in Facebook Messenger to have their audio chats transcribed, where the transcribing was done to make sure that the AI correctly interpreted the messages.

Facebook also reassured that the conversations were anonymized, although we’re sure that not everyone was thrilled with the idea anyway. Facebook isn’t alone in this either. As the company points out, Apple has also been recently accused of transcribing Siri conversations in a bid to improve on its accuracy.

For a company that prided itself in user privacy, this was a huge deal, although Apple has since suspended the program following the revelations. They also announced plans to make it easier for users to opt-in if they want.

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: Facebook, Privacy