Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, has recently announced to its European user base that it will begin harnessing their personal data to improve its artificial intelligence models. This new plan is expected to commence on June 26th, with the user community receiving a few weeks’ notice.
This decision has been met with resistance, as users have started to assert copyrights over their images and posts across these platforms. A pre-designed template on Instagram Stories (which disappear after 24 hours) even exists for users to voice their objections to Meta’s approach. NYOB, a group led by Max Schrems, has launched 11 complaints about the prospective data usage and is urging data protection authorities to intervene. But what is Meta’s exact plan, and is it possible to truly opt-out?
Meta, along with many large-scale firms, is integrating AI chatbots that facilitate a range of user interactions from resolving queries to generating content on the platform. These AI chatbots require heaps of data for training, and Meta plans to use the data already available on its platforms for this purpose. Amendments to the company’s privacy policies will incorporate Instagram and Facebook data to familiarise these new models, with the goal of enhancing their efficiency and user-friendliness.
As per Meta, potential data usage could encompass posts, photos, captions, and your interactions with AI on the platform; however, private conversations between you and your contacts would remain untouched.
If you wish to dispute Meta’s use of your data for AI training, posting copyright notices on your social media is not the solution. Instead, launch the Facebook app, tap your profile picture located at the bottom right corner, and scroll to ‘Settings & Privacy’. Next, tap ‘settings’ and scroll down to ‘Privacy Policy’. A paragraph on this page will indicate the updates to Meta’s privacy policy and its use of your data for AI. Tap the part that states “Learn more about your right to object” to effectively lodge your objections.
To complete the form, navigate to the bottom of the page and input your details, taking care to explain how the evaluation of your data affects you, and also adding any more details that are of significance.
Instagram makes this somewhat challenging. A suggested approach is to go to your profile, press on the three lines you see in the top-right corner to bring forth the menu, and then traverse downwards to Settings & Privacy>Help. Here, select Help Centre, click on About AIs on Instagram, and press the hyperlink for a detailed explanation on Meta’s use of data for automated AI models. Continue to scroll until you locate the link that grants you the right to object.
So, is this the complete process? Not quite. As per Meta, they check the received applications in tandem with data protection laws and should they agree to your request, it would be implemented henceforth. It’s important to remember two things here: first, the usage of ‘if’ indicates that they reserve the right to deny your request, even though GDPR largely negates the possibility; and second, it’s advisable to object to the use of your data for AI training before the company begins the process. Even though your data won’t be used further, it’s hard to ensure complete extraction of already used information.
It’s also worth noting that just because you object to your posts and images being part of the AI learning, this doesn’t prevent others from doing so. Thus, posts or photos on which you appear or are mentioned by others may be utilised, even without your direct consent.
In case you wish to remove any publicly available data shared by someone else used for AI training, you are required to complete a separate form with the complexities of “Data subject rights for third party information used for AI at Meta”. However, a successful outcome cannot be guaranteed every time.