The truth behind targeted ads on social media is creepier than you think

Tristan Harris, a former Google design ethicist explained how tech companies don’t have to listen in to your conversations through digital devices because they already have data to make scarily accurate predictions.

Do tech companies listen to our conversations? (AP)

All of us have witnessed at least one instance where our real-life conversations have translated into ads or services popping on social media, without our consent, making us believe if the gadgets in the house are spying on us. The truth is creepier.

Tristan Harris, a former Google design ethicist explained how tech companies don't have to listen in to your conversations through digital devices because they already have data to make scarily accurate predictions, Quartz reports.

Drawing a creepy parallel, Harris explains how inside of a Google or Facebook server, there is a voodoo doll, an avatar-like version of a user that acts more and more like the user based on the vast amount of click-associated data and doesn't require companies to listen through the microphones to know about the conversations.