Facebook could use data collected by Portal device for targeted advertising

Rob Price/Business Insider

• Facebook has touted the privacy credentials of its new
  Portal video-chat device — but there’s a catch.
• Facebook has now said that it may use the data it
  collects on users in advertising elsewhere.
• The launch of the Portal and its always-on microphones
  and cameras comes as Facebook battles a backlash after
  successive scandals.

Facebook’s fancy new video-chat device comes with a catch:
Facebook may use the data it collects about you to target you
with ads.

In early October, the social networking giant announced its first
Facebook-branded hardware products, the Portal and Portal Plus —
AI-powered smart speakers and video-chat devices that live in
your home and let you call your Facebook friends.

The devices won’t show advertisements,
as company execs told Business Insider and other media
outlets when it launched — but that’s not the whole story.

Recode reported on Tuesday that Facebook has now admitted
that the data it collects about Portal customers, from who they
call to the apps they use, may be used in the company’s
advertising targeting. 

This disclosure comes despite Facebook previously telling Recode
that it would not in any way utilize the data it collects from
the Portal in advertising.

“Portal voice calling is built on the Messenger
infrastructure, so when you make a video call on Portal, we
collect the same types of information (i.e. usage data such as
length of calls, frequency of calls) that we collect on other
Messenger-enabled devices,” a spokesperson told Recode.

“We may use this information to inform the ads we show you
across our platforms. Other general usage data, such as aggregate
usage of apps, etc., may also feed into the information that we
use to serve ads.”

In other words: Sure, Facebook won’t show you ads on the
Portal. But it’ll still track exactly what you do and may use
that data to target you with ads elsewhere.

A spokesperson for Facebook did not immediately respond to
Business Insider’s request for comment.

The launch of Portal has come at an awkward time for
Facebook, as the company faces a consumer backlash and regulatory
scrutiny following a chain of scandals, from Cambridge Analytica
to the hack of 30 million users’ personal data.

The company has insisted it can be trusted with users’
data, and touted a number of privacy-focused features in the
Portal, including a button that turns off the always-on camera
and microphone, and a physical cover that can be placed over the
lens.

However, Facebook’s disclosure that it will still use
customers’ data for ads — and the fact it had to correct its
earlier statement on the subject — risks turning potential users
off.

Do you work at Facebook? Got a
tip? Contact this reporter via Signal
or WhatsApp at +1 (650) 636-6268 using a non-work phone, email at
[email protected], WeChat at robaeprice, or Twitter DM
at @robaeprice. (PR pitches by
email only, please.) You can also contact
Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

Now read: