In response to Meta’s announcement on 14 April that it was relaunching its artificial intelligence training programme using user data, several European data protection authorities have published guides for Facebook and Instagram users.
In these guides, posted online between 15 and 25 April, the French, Dutch, German and Belgian authorities explain how to prevent Meta from retrieving your personal data.
“Those who wish to oppose must act quickly”, warns the German authority, which insists: “For the objection to take full effect, it must be lodged before the end of May. Although it is possible to object after this date [...], the data [will be] irrevocably integrated into the AI models and its influence can no longer be removed”.
Last year, Meta had already announced its intention to feed its AI with posts accessible from its European users (see EUROPE 13428/11).
This decision was postponed last June after a dozen complaints were lodged and the Irish Data Protection Authority intervened, warning the company of potential breaches of the European Data Protection Regulation (see EUROPE 13433/12).
In December, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) issued an opinion that did not oppose the use of personal data for training AI models outright, taking the view that the legitimate interest argument could be a legal basis for justification (see EUROPE 13549/10). (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)