Facebook Plans to Utilize Your Personal Information for Training Its AI
Concerns about data protection have arisen following Meta’s announcement that it will start using its users’ posts, photos, and other personal details to train its Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and services on Facebook and Instagram.
Users of these platforms are automatically part of this process unless they choose to opt out. However, opting out involves several steps, which has raised concerns among data privacy advocates and experts.
Many users on various Meta social media platforms recently received a notification stating that from June 26 onwards, the company will expand its “AI at Meta experiences,” including Meta AI and AI creative tools. The notification said:
To bring these experiences to you, we’ll now use the legal basis called legitimate interests to use your information for developing and enhancing AI at Meta.
However, the message also states that users have the option to object to how their information is used for these purposes. It mentions that if their objection is accepted, it will be applied in the future.
To object, users need to click the link in the notification and fill out a form stating why they disagree with their data being used this way. After that, they must check their email for a confirmation code to complete their objection.
Simon McGarr, a solicitor and director of Data Compliance Europe, commented:
Currently, they’re presenting a consent form. But the consent form doesn’t say, ‘Yes I agree.’ Instead, it’s a form to fill in if you disagree. So it’s more like an opt-out form.
Unless you fill in that you’ve agreed to their legitimate interest use of your data, now, I don’t think that’s valid because people’s data on Meta and Facebook likely includes both what is known as personal data and sensitive personal data. And sensitive personal data cannot be processed based on legitimate interests.
