The European Center for Digital Rights (NOYB) recently raised strong criticism of Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, over its plan to use users’ personal data for AI training without obtaining explicit consent. NOYB, acronym for “none of your business” urged European privacy authorities to take urgent action. Meta’s new privacy policy, which goes into effect on June 26, will allow the company to use personal posts, private images and tracking data for AI development. This move prompted NOYB to file 11 complaints in several European countries , including Austria, Germany and Poland, calling for immediate action by data protection authorities.
Meta defended its practices, citing a May 22 blog post in which it explained its use of publicly available and licensed information, as well as data shared publicly on its platforms, to train AI. A spokesperson for Meta said: “We are confident that our approach is compliant with privacy laws and aligned with the ways in which other technology companies develop and improve AI in Europe.” The company also added that it is in line with existing privacy laws and practices followed by other tech giants such as Google and OpenAI.
Max Schrems, founder of NOYB, criticized Meta’s position, citing a 2021 ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union that had rejected Meta’s “legitimate interest” argument to override users’ data protection rights in advertising. Schrems argued that Meta’s current approach to AI training reflects past practices already deemed unacceptable by the CJEU. “Shifting responsibility to users is absurd. The law requires Meta to obtain explicit consent, not provide a hidden opt-out form,” Schrems said, adding that Meta’s strategy forces users to request opt-outs from using the data, contrary to the legal requirements to obtain explicit permission.
Naturally there is a method to oppose it to the use of their personal data in order to train Meta’s AI, but the process is not the simplest: searching in their emails for the message sent by Meta, one for Facebook and one for Instagram, with the title “We are updating our Privacy Policy as we expand Meta AI”, you can click on the “right to object” link. If you cannot find the email, access the app or browser version of Facebook or Instagram, go to your profile, select the three stripes icon and click on “Settings”. From here, select “Privacy Policy”, then click on the “right to object” link.
“What to write to oppose”
Once you have clicked on the “right to object” link, follow these steps: fill in the mandatory fields in the form that appears, indicating your country of residence and an email address. You will receive a verification code at the email address provided, which is required to complete the process. In the section requiring the motivation, write: “I intend to exercise the right to object to the processing of my personal data aimed at training generative AI”, and send.
Check your email to find the verification code, and enter the code on the dedicated page to complete the procedure. After submitting the form, you will receive a confirmation via email that the objection has been registered. The procedure for both Facebook and Instagram must be completed by 26 June 2024. The opposition is not retroactive: the data already collected and shared on Meta’s social networks can still be used. At the moment, Meta has stated that it does not intend to use the information contained in private WhatsApp and Messenger chats for training its AI.
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