Last day to stop Meta using your Facebook and Instagram data for AI training. Here is how

Mark Zuckerberg’s tech giant company Meta started on Tuesday using Facebook and Instagram posts from EU users to train its artificial intelligence (AI) software, Meta AI. However, today is your last chance to say no. Below are instructions on how to opt out.

The US-based tech company plans to analyse all public content shared by users across the European Union (EU) to enhance its AI models. The Facebook parent’s move comes after Meta launched its AI technology in Europe last month, a roll-out that was initially announced in June 2024 but delayed following regulatory concerns on data protection and privacy, Reuters reported recently.

The British news outlet added that while Meta AI launched in the US in 2023, its roll-out in Europe faced several regulatory issues due to the EU’s stringent privacy and transparency rules. Meta said people in the EU who use Facebook and Instagram would start receiving notifications explaining what kind of data the company will harness. Users were also supposed to receive a link to a form where they could reject using their data for training purposes.

Meta will not use under-18s’ data

Zuckerberg’s company said it will use data such as user queries and questions on Meta AI. However, it said private messages and public data from accounts of users under the age of 18 would not be used in the training.

On May 14th, Austrian advocacy group NOYB (None Of Your Business) announced it would seek an injunction against Meta that could lead to substantial claims if the tech giant goes ahead with plans to use Europeans’ personal data to train its AI models.

NOYB, led by privacy activist Max Schrems, said it had sent a cease and desist letter to Meta, which cited legitimate interest under the EU privacy rules for using users’ data to train and develop its generative AI models and other AI tools that can be shared with third parties.

“The European Court of Justice has already held that Meta cannot claim a ‘legitimate interest’ in targeting users with advertising. How should it have a ‘legitimate interest’ to suck up all data for AI training?” Schrem responded to Meta’s statement.

Germany and Ireland refuse to take action against Meta

Germany’s data protection authority (DPA) initially had said it would try to stop Meta’s AI plans, but later backtracked. On Tuesday, Euractiv got confirmation from DPA that it would not go ahead with its urgency procedure to stop Meta’s plan, as it has decided not to be the only EU supervisory authority ruling against the tech giant. A decision from the DPA would have only put a stop to the training program within Germany.

“Given the forthcoming EU-wide evaluation of Meta’s practices, an isolated urgency procedure for Germany is not a suitable path”, the Hamburg DPA told Euractiv.  The decision also takes into account Friday’s decision from a regional court in Cologne, which allowed Meta to continue mining data to train its models. 

The Irish authorities, which oversee Meta’s compliance with data protection rules, released a statement on May 21st saying it did not oppose Meta’s AI plans either. Several websites, including Euro News, have posted instructions on how you can opt out, as today is officially the last day to do so:

Opting out on Facebook:

• After logging into your account, you can either click on this link here.
• Or click on your account icon in the top right corner, select “settings and privacy,” then “privacy centre”. 
• On the left side is a drop-down menu labelled “How Meta uses information for generative AI models and features”. Click on that and scroll down before clicking “Right to object”.
• Enter your email address at the bottom of the form and click Submit.
• You should receive an email and a notification on your Facebook account confirming your successful request.

Opting out on Instagram:

• Log in to your account, access your profile page and click on the three lines at the top-right corner. Then click on “settings and privacy”.
• Scroll to “more info and support” and click “about”. Then click on “Privacy policy”. At the top of the page, click “learn more about your right to object.” 
• Enter your email address at the bottom of the form and click Submit.
• You should then receive both an email and a notification on your Facebook account confirming your successful request.