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Comment by netsharc

16 hours ago

I wonder if keyword/sentiment extraction on the user's device counts as reading "by WhatsApp"...

There's the conspiracy theory about mentioning a product near the phone and then getting ads for it (which I don't believe), but I feel like I've mentioned products on WhatsApp chats with friends and then got an ad for them on Instagram sometime after.

Also claiming "no one else can read it" is a bit brave, what if the user's phone has spyware that takes screenshots of WhatsApp... (Technically of course it's outside of their scope to protect against this, but try explaining that to a judge who sees their claim and the reality)

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netsharc

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XorNot  11 hours ago

The conspiracy theory exists due to quirks of human attention and the wider metadata economy though.

You mention something so you're thinking about it, you're thinking about it probably because you've seen it lately (or it's in the group of things local events are making you think about), and then later you notice an ad for that thing and because you were thinking about it actually notice the ad.

It works with anything in any media form. Like I've had it where I hear a new thing and suddenly it turns up in a book I'm reading as well. Of course people discount that because they don't suspect books of being intelligent agents.

  • ghurtado  11 hours ago

    This psychological effect has a name and I always forget it.

    EDIT: Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. I Think anyone can be forgiven for not remembering that name.

esseph  15 hours ago

> There's the conspiracy theory about mentioning a product near a the phone and then getting ads for it (which I don't believe)

Well you sure as hell should. Both Google and Apple are making class action settlement payments right now for this very thing.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g38jv8zzwo

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/payments-begin-in-95m-...

https://www.404media.co/heres-the-pitch-deck-for-active-list...