A Facebook user was creeped out when he saw a couple of adverts appear in his newsfeed related to subjects he had only just been talking about.
A 40-year-old man, who did not wish to be named, had been chatting to his nan on his mobile phone one evening in some detail about a tree stump that needed removing in her garden and how to do it.
The following morning the journalist then strangely spotted an advert pop up on the timeline of his Facebook page from Amazon for a large 'copper tree stump killer' nail.
He had never searched through his phone or computer before or after the conversation about anything to do with tree stumps - nor 'liked' or commented on the subject anywhere - let alone how to remove them.
Often, when Facebook users browse online for products or click on certain web articles the data is collected and stored on the device.
A 'targeted' advert based on the user's recent search could then well appear in their Facebook newsfeed soon after.
Steven felt "creeped out" by this occurrence as if the social media giant were somehow listening in on his phone calls.
On the morning he saw the advert he was also talking to his partner in person about summer holidays in general, using the words "jetting off" at one point.
This time it was less than an hour after the chat that he saw an advert on his newsfeed from Jet2.com and Jet2holidays about summer holidays.
Again, he had browsed nothing about this topic on any of his devices.
These incidents added fuel to the Big Brother -type rumour over the years that Facebook is able to "spy" on its customers' conversations via their phone's microphone and then send targeted adverts.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook's parent company Meta, has repeatedly denied these claims and described them as a "conspiracy".
He told told US politician at Congress in April 2018: "You’re talking about this conspiracy theory that gets passed around that we listen to what’s going on on your microphone and use that for ads. We don’t do that."
Steven contacted Facebook over the adverts he had seen and asked if the company had been able to access his microphone - at the time of writing no response was received.
However, a company statement in 2016 statement read: "Facebook does not use your phone’s microphone to inform ads or to change what you see in News Feed.
"Some recent articles have suggested that we must be listening to people’s conversations in order to show them relevant ads. This is not true.
"We show ads based on people’s interests and other profile information – not what you’re talking out loud about.
"We only access your microphone if you have given our app permission and if you are actively using a specific feature that requires audio.
"This might include recording a video or using an optional feature we introduced two years ago to include music or other audio in your status updates."
But still, similar incidents of people reportedly being targeted by adverts on Facebook allegedly through their microphones have happened before.
Another journalist, Tyler Mears, received promotions for obscure items such as stab vests and female toilet devices that she had only spoken about in person and never searched for.
While Mirror readers sent in their Facebook adverts experiences with some calling it "just plain spooky" and concluding that they must have been "spied on."
