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Cox Media fined after bragging it spied on users through their phones
Policy Close Policy Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Policy News Close News Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All News Tech Close Tech Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Tech Cox Media fined after bragging it spied on users through their phones More specifically, it was fined for allegedly lying by claiming that it could. More specifically, it was fined for allegedly lying by claiming that it could. by Adi Robertson Close Adi Robertson Senior Editor, Tech & Policy Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All by Adi Robertson May 25, 2026, 6:28 PM UTC Link Share Gift Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Adi Robertson Close Adi Robertson Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All by Adi Robertson is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011. 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 — despite little evidence they actually could. On Thursday the Federal Trade Commission announced 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. As chronicled by Techdirt 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 “every casual conversation between two consumers becomes a tool for you to target, retarget, and retain customers.” It compared the tech to an episode of Black Mirror and described it as a real version of the persistent, largely unsubstantiated rumor that social media companies routinely listen to users through phone microphones. Cox backpedaled and denied it was listening to conversations, but 404 Media published multiple internal pitch decks making essentially the same highly dystopian claim. At the time, there were significant doubts this was actually happening, and the FTC complaints back this up. “This service did not, in fact, listen in on consumers’ conversations or use voice data at all — nor did the service accurately place ads in customers’ desired locations,” it says in its press release. “Instead, the service the companies provided consisted of reselling — at a significant markup — email lists obtained from other data brokers.” The agency also says the companies lied about consumers having opted into this system — so even if they could spy on people, it alleges, they’d still have been breaking the law. Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates. Adi Robertson Close Adi Robertson Senior Editor, Tech & Policy Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All by Adi Robertson News Close News Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All News Policy Close Policy Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Policy Privacy Close Privacy Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Privacy Tech Close Tech Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Tech Most Popular Most Popular Google’s new anything-to-anything AI model is wild Apple’s latest MacBook Air is $200 off in both sizes for Memorial Day If I could only have one laptop for work and gaming, I’d get this one On Trails is a wandering tale that blends hiking, science, and history GitHub faces a fight for its survival at Microsoft The Verge Daily A free daily digest of the news that matters most. Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Advertiser Content From This is the title for the native ad
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