It seems like we don’t want to face this because the only remedy is to throw our phones off a cliff.
They know who is in your proximity based on standard geolocation / ip techniques, and if someone in your vicinity searches for something then you will see ads based on that.
That’s why if you are talking about a movie or product you will see ads later - someone else in the group googled it.
Obviously we don’t know 100% but I don’t think what you experienced is what you think - I have yet to see hard evidence for it happening, at the OS level anyway. I’m sure a few apps might be doing it.
Then tell me if you start to get ads for it. I think you will. I've seen it a few times.
One recent time, I was sitting with my wife and we were joking around and I was like "Why don't they have hamster wheels for cats?". We spoke about it for a minute or two and had a laugh. She swears she didn't google it and neither did I.
The next day we both got ads for this (apparently they exist).
I concede that it may have been a one off and there may be explanations.
For instance, I am perfectly sure that my phone is not listening on me. Also, I see no ads whatsoever.
See:
- https://adaway.org (or similar)
If you want to actual remove googles ability to spy, use grapheneos.org with optional sandboxed google play services that remove microphone and other permissions on the OS level.
This is ridiculous. There are plenty of things you can do. (like put it in the wood chipper)