The Dutch privacy watchdog Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (AP) is the latest regulator to warn Meta’s Facebook and Instagram users that they should object if they don’t want their public data to be used to train the company’s artificial intelligence tool Meta AI.
The AP said it's “very concerned” about the plans of Meta and other large platforms to train their tools with user data.
“It is not yet a done deal whether Meta is allowed to do what the company plans to do," the statement said, adding: "Among other things, it is questionable whether Meta's opt-out model meets the legal requirements. The AP and the other European supervisors are in close consultation with the Irish supervisor about this.”
Meta announced the roll out of Meta AI out across the EU earlier this month, after it was launched in the US in September 2023.
Its plan to continue expansion in Europe was halted last summer due to “regulatory unpredictability”: the Irish Data Protection Commission told the company to postpone the launch because it planned to use data of adult users of Facebook and Instagram to train its large language models (LLMs).
The Dutch regulator’s vice-chair Monique Verdier said in a statement: “The risk is that as a user you lose control over your personal data. You've ever posted something on Instagram or Facebook and that data will soon be in that AI model, without knowing exactly what happens to it.”
If users don’t object before May 27, Meta will automatically use their public data to train Meta AI.
Previously, the data protection regulator of the German state of Hamburg, and the Belgian privacy watchdog issued similar warnings.
Markus Reinisch, Vice President, Public Policy Europe, Meta, said at a Euronews event on Thursday that tools do “require regulation” for example to protect citizens’ fundamental rights.
“It’s a big problem that a well-meant regulation is implemented in a discriminatory manner that harms our business models. The problem is singling out certain companies,” he added.
Meta has been very vocal about the EU’s tech rules ever since the US administration led by Donald Trump took office. Europe’s regulatory action against US tech companies is pushing the continent “to the sidelines”, Meta’s new global policy chief, Joel Kaplan, said earlier this year.
This article has been updated to clarify that the changes do not apply to Whatsapp.
