*Meta starts AI training with personal data - those who want to object
must act quickly*
https://datenschutz-hamburg.de/news/meta-starts-ai-training-with-personal-data
15 April 2025
Until now, Meta's AI technology has not been trained with the Facebook
and Instagram data of European users. This is now set to change: From
*the end of May 2025, Meta wants to use the data of all adult European
Facebook and Instagram users for training of its own AI applications*.
The data will then be used to train the company's AI-based services such
as the Meta-AI chatbot on WhatsApp or language models such as Llama.
*Start of training planned for 2024 postponed for the time being*
Meta had already announced last year that it would use all public posts
and photos from its European Facebook and Instagram users for AI
training. *However, Meta then postponed the project *after the Irish
Data Protection Authority (IDPC), which is the lead supervisory
authority for Meta in the EU, approached the company with data
protection issues, particularly regarding the legal basis and
transparency. *The procedure that is now in place makes it easier to
object *to Meta's use of personal data for AI training.
*If users want to object, then now*
Registered users of Facebook and Instagram must now decide whether the
company may train AI models with their personal data (posts, photos,
etc.). This applies not only to the future, but also to all data from
the past.
If you have no concerns about your publicly accessible posts, comments
and photos in your own account being used for AI training, you don't
have to do anything.
Anyone who wants to prevent their own data from being used by Meta for
AI training purposes *must take action now*. All European users of legal
age will be notified accordingly by Meta and informed of their options.
You can object in the respective apps or for Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/712876720715583
<https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/712876720715583> and for
Instagram at https://help.instagram.com/contact/767264225370182
<https://help.instagram.com/contact/767264225370182>. For the objection
to take full effect, it must be lodged before the end of May 2025.
Although it is possible to object at any time after this date, it will
no longer be possible to undo that your data has already been used for
AI training. Training data is irrevocably incorporated into AI models
and its influence can no longer be removed from the model according to
the current state of the art.
Thomas Fuchs, Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of
Information: „I can well understand that users are concerned when all
their images and texts shared on social networks are now incorporated
into AI models. The only way to protect yourself here is to object in
good time. If so, then now.“
