I understand what you're asking and you do have to be particularly aware of what /you/ are asking. That particular question, in context of these allegations, w

I understand what you're asking and you do have to be particularly aware of what /you/ are asking. That particular question, in context of these allegations, would presuppose that they use microphone data for something other than what the user clearly is aware of, e.g. voice chat. So an answer like "to provide users the service they need" would undeniably be spun by media to be: Facebook uses microphone to tweak news feed. The longer the answer is, the more likely it can be misunderstood and taken out of context. You shouldn't expect a public company to answer questions like that, simply because the media will gladly take the answer out of context. You need to phrase it specifically, so they can answer without being misunderstood.