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Meta is stepping up efforts to stay competitive in an industry dominated by artificial intelligence, but a major update to its privacy policy has raised concerns among users: From June 26, when you post on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, or WhatsApp or interact with chatbots, Meta may use your data to train AI-generated models, although you may be able to opt out depending on where you live.
AI models require significant amounts of training data to function effectively, but the effectiveness of how that data is collected is one of the biggest challenges in AI today. Recently, a series of lawsuits have been filed against OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, but resolution may take years.
But for Meta, user data is a gift that keeps on giving.
If you use Facebook, WhatsApp, or Instagram to send direct messages, you may have noticed Meta's new AI assistant (Meta AI), which can provide recommendations and even generate images for things like restaurants, home improvements, public speaking assistance, coding advice for beginners, and more. Meta says the assistant is designed to help you “get things done, learn, create, and connect with what matters to you.”
Currently, the company's AI models consist mainly of information collected from the web and licensed data. But starting June 26, the privacy policy update will cover user data collected from posts and AI chatbot interactions across all Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Messenger, and WhatsApp). Even if you don't use these platforms, Meta can still collect data from posts you're tagged in and images posted by other users.
What this means for US users
This is a bleak outlook for people outside the European Union, including the United States. Because the United States lacks a comprehensive national data privacy law similar to the European Union's GDPR, there's no surefire way to stop Meta from using your data to train its AI. And it's impossible to use a VPN to trick Meta into thinking you're in the EU. I tried.
What's the next best option?
Fill out the “Data Subject Rights Over Third-Party Information Used for Meta's AI” form in Facebook's Help Center. This won't stop Meta from harvesting data from your profile or posts, but it will delete any publicly available third-party information it's collected about you from the internet.
How EU and UK users can opt out
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) and the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) have asked Meta to delay its AI data collection plans until it can address user privacy concerns. In a statement earlier this month, Meta responded, saying “this is a setback for European innovation, competition in AI development and will further delay bringing the benefits of AI to Europeans.”
This mirrors recent news that Apple will delay the release of its Apple Intelligence feature in the EU due to regulatory concerns about compliance with Digital Markets Act.
Meta doesn't currently have plans to release Meta AI in Europe, but users will still have the option to opt out of data collection when it does. Here's how:
- Go to setting Instagram or Facebook app page.
- click about Scroll down privacy policy
- From here, you will see a new section about Meta AI, which contains an opt-out form called “Right to Object”.
about Security Byte: Security Bite is 9to5Mac's weekly security column. Arin Waichulis It provides data privacy insights, discovers vulnerabilities and uncovers emerging threats within Apple's vast ecosystem of more than 2 billion active devices.s Help you to still be safe.
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