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Meta is set to train its AI models with Europeans' public data, and you can
stop it doing so

Date:
Thu, 17 Apr 2025 23:01:00 +0000

Description:
The Big Tech giant resumes its AI training plan, after pausing the launch of
Meta AI amid EU data regulators' concerns.

FULL STORY

Meta has resumed its plan to train its AI models with EU users' data, the
company announced on Monday, April 14, 2025. 

All public posts and comments shared by adults across Meta's social platforms
will soon be used to train Meta AI, alongside all interactions users directly
exchange with the chatbot. 

This comes as the Big Tech giant successfully launched Meta AI in the EU in
March, almost a year after the firm paused the launch amid growing c oncerns
among EU data regulators .

What's Meta AI training and how to opt out 

"We believe we have a responsibility to build AI thats not just available to
Europeans, but is built for them. Thats why its so important for our
generative AI models to be trained on a variety of data so they can 
understand the incredible and diverse nuances and complexities that make up
European communities," wrote Meta in the official announcement . 

This kind of training, the company notes, it's not unique to Meta or Europe.
Meta AI collects and processes the same information, in fact, across all
regions where it's available. 

As mentioned earlier, Meta AI will be trained with all public posts and
interactions' data from adult users. Public data from the accounts of people
in the EU under the age of 18 won't be used for training purposes. 

Meta also promises that no people's private messages shared on iMessage and
WhatsApp will ever be used for AI training purposes, too.

Beginning this week, all Meta users in the EU will start receiving
notifications about the terms of the new AI training, either via app or 
email. 

These notifications will include a link to a form where people can withdraw
their consent for their data to be used for training Meta AI. 

"We have made this objection form easy to find, read, and use, and well honor
all objection forms we have already received, as well as newly submitted
ones," explains the provider. 

It's crucial to understand that once fed into an LLM database, you will be
completely losing control over your data, as these systems make it very hard
(if not impossible) to exercise the GDPR 's right to be forgotten. 

This is why privacy experts like Proton, the provider behind one of the best
VPN and encrypted email apps, are urging people in Europe concerned about
their privacy to opt out of Meta AI training. 

"We recommend filling out this form when it's sent to you to protect your
privacy. It's hard to predict what this data might be used for in the future
better to be safe than sorry," Proton wrote on a LinkedIn post . 

Meta's announcement comes at the same time that the Irish data regulators 
have opened an investigation into X's Grok AI . Specifically, the enquiry
seeks to determine whether Elon Musk's platform uses publicly-accessible X
posts to train its generative AI models in compliance with GDPR rules.

======================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/meta-is-set-to-train-its-ai
-models-with-europeans-public-data-and-you-can-stop-it-doing-so

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