{"id":2938,"date":"2026-05-25T22:28:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T18:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/cox-media-fined-after-bragging-it-spied-on-users-through-their-phones\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T22:28:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T18:28:30","slug":"cox-media-fined-after-bragging-it-spied-on-users-through-their-phones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/cox-media-fined-after-bragging-it-spied-on-users-through-their-phones\/","title":{"rendered":"Cox Media fined after bragging it spied on users through their phones"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A stock privacy image of an eye.\" data-caption=\"\" data-portal-copyright=\"Illustration by Alex Castro \/ The Verge\" data-has-syndication-rights=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.theverge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/chorus\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/13959620\/acastro_190204_1777_privacy_0001.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0,0,100,100\" \/><figcaption>\n\t\t<\/figcaption><\/p><\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">An exceptionally weird controversy has come back to haunt Cox Media and a pair of marketing firms, which claimed they were secretly listening to users via phones and smart devices &#8211; despite little evidence they actually could. On Thursday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/news\/press-releases\/2026\/05\/ftc-require-cox-media-group-two-other-firms-pay-nearly-1-million-settle-charges-they-deceived\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/news\/press-releases\/2026\/05\/ftc-require-cox-media-group-two-other-firms-pay-nearly-1-million-settle-charges-they-deceived\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Federal Trade Commission announced<\/a> that Cox, MindSift, and 1010 Digital Works would pay a total of $930,000 to settle allegations that they were in fact lying about spying on people to target ads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techdirt.com\/2024\/08\/29\/cox-caught-again-bragging-it-spies-on-users-with-embedded-device-microphones-to-sell-ads\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.techdirt.com\/2024\/08\/29\/cox-caught-again-bragging-it-spies-on-users-with-embedded-device-microphones-to-sell-ads\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">chronicled by <em>Techdirt<\/em><\/a> a couple of years ago, Cox publicly boasted about a system called Voice Data back in 2023, telling potential digital marketing clients they could ensure \u00ab\u00a0every casual conversation be \u2026<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/policy\/937027\/cox-media-marketing-ai-powered-phone-spying-ads-ftc-fine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the full story at The Verge.<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An exceptionally weird controversy has come back to haunt Cox Media and a pair of marketing firms, which claimed they [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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