Meta to Use Public Posts, AI Interactions for Model Training in EU

Photo : Reuters

Meta has announced that it will start using public posts and interactions from users to help improve its technology in the European Union (EU). This decision follows the company's launch of new technology in Europe last month. Originally, Meta planned to start this in June 2024, but the launch was delayed because of concerns about data protection and privacy rules in Europe.

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While Meta's new technology was already launched in the United States in 2023, it faced many problems in Europe due to the strict privacy rules the EU has. To follow these rules, Meta said that users in the EU, who use Facebook and Instagram, will soon get notifications. These notifications will explain how Meta will use their data. Users will also be given a link to a form where they can say if they do not want their data used for this purpose.

Meta said that they will use data like the questions users ask or the way they interact with the technology. However, private messages will not be used, and they will not use public data from accounts of users under 18 years old.

The European Commission did not reply when asked about Meta’s decision to start using data for this purpose.

Last June, Meta had to stop launching this technology in Europe after Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) told them to wait. The DPC was worried about Meta using social media posts without proper privacy protection. Meta also faced pressure from privacy groups, like NOYB, which told privacy regulators to stop Meta from using social media data in this way.

Other big tech companies are also facing investigations. X, the company that owns Twitter, is being looked into for using personal data of EU users to train its own system. Google is also being investigated to check if it properly protected user data before using it to help create its technology.

These investigations show that the EU is serious about making sure companies protect people’s privacy while using data to improve their technologies. How these investigations end could change how companies use data in the future.