CBS News exclusive: Instagram CEO asked about its advertising

In a wide-ranging interview with Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri that will air Tuesday and Wednesday, “CBS This Morning” co-host Gayle King wanted to know: Why does she see ads for products she hasn’t searched for?

“Can you help me understand how I can be having a private conversation with someone about something I’m interested in seeing or buying… and an advertisement for that will pop up on my Instagram feed,” King asked. “I haven’t searched for it, I haven’t talked to anybody about it. I swear I think you guys are listening. I know you’re gonna say you’re not.”

Mosseri acknowledged that a lot of people have the same question and tried to explain how ads might show up. “There are two ways that can happen. One is dumb luck, which can happen. The second is you might be talking about something because it’s top of mind because you’ve been interacting with that type of content more recently. So maybe you’re really into food and restaurants. You saw a restaurant on Facebook or Instagram and you really like the thing. It’s top of mind, maybe it’s subconscious and then it bubbles up later. I think this kind of thing happens often in a way that’s really subtle.”

And the CEO insisted that Instagram doesn’t spy. “But we don’t look at your messages, we don’t listen in on your microphone, doing so would be super problematic for a lot of different reasons. But I recognize you’re not gonna really believe me.”

Watch more of Gayle King’s interview with Adam Mosseri on “CBS This Morning” on Tuesday and Wednesday, starting at 7 a.m. ET.