Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has been using public posts from the accounts of Americnas to train its AI models since last year, sparking concerns about user privacy and data protection. There is a way to stop Mark Zuckerberg from using your posts as fodder for his company’s AI systems.
Fox News reports that in a stark contrast to its European counterparts, Meta has been actively incorporating public data from U.S. social media accounts into its generative AI features without offering users an opt-out option. This practice has raised eyebrows among privacy advocates and users alike, highlighting the disparities in data protection laws between regions.
The controversy came to light when Meta proposed a privacy policy update for European Union and UK users, which would have allowed the company to use publicly shared content for AI training. However, faced with opposition from users and regulatory agencies, Meta indefinitely postponed the implementation of this policy in those regions.
A Meta spokesperson stated, “Across the internet, public information is being used to train AI. This is not unique to our services. We’re committed to building AI responsibly and believe it’s important that people understand how we train the models that power our generative AI product.”
Unlike other tech giants like Google and OpenAI, which primarily use data from publishers and websites to train their AI models, Meta’s approach is more personal. The company utilizes every publicly available detail from users’ lives, including photos, videos, feed content, and captions on posts and Reels. However, Meta claims that private accounts, Facebook and Instagram stories, and Threads data are not used for AI training. The company also asserts that it doesn’t use content from private, direct messaging on Facebook and Instagram, even for users with public accounts.
The situation highlights the importance of robust data privacy laws, such as those in the European Union, which require companies to disclose their data collection and usage practices and offer opt-out options. In contrast, users in the U.S. and other countries without comprehensive national data privacy laws have limited control over how their personal information is used for AI training.
For U.S. users concerned about their data being used to train Meta’s AI, the options are limited. The most effective way to prevent Meta from using personal data for AI training is to make Facebook or Instagram accounts private or delete public posts. However, these solutions may not be practical or desirable for all users.
If your concern about privacy outweigh your desire to have a public profile, here are the steps to stop Meta from using your data to train AI:
Make your Facebook account private:
- Open Facebook on your phone or computer
- Select Menu > Settings & privacy > Settings
- Scroll to “Audience and visibility” and click “Posts”
- Choose an option other than “Public” (e.g., “Friends” or “Only Me”)
Make your Instagram account private:
- Open Instagram and go to your profile
- Tap the three lines in the top right corner
- Select “Settings and activity”
- Tap “Account privacy” and toggle your account to private
Read more at Fox News here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
