Customer guidance resource - Meta cautions against AI training using user information.
The North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center has issued a cautionary notice against Meta, the Facebook parent company, to prevent them from using users' information without consent for training their AI models. Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd., the company's European subsidiary, has been ordered to provide a cease and desist declaration.
Recently, Meta sent mass emails to Facebook, Instagram, and Threads users to announce changes to its data protection policies. "We're updating our data protection guidelines as we grow AI at Meta," the email indicates. The users are informed about their right to object.
The consumer advocates in North Rhine-Westphalia are alarmed that Meta users must actively object if they don't agree with their content being used for AI training. "The objection process is tedious and not user-friendly," they assert. Moreover, they argue that Facebook has recently begun a more in-depth analysis of photo libraries by default: Facebook app users now get suggestions on which images or videos they could share on the platform. From the perspective of the consumer center in North Rhine-Westphalia, these two changes, AI training and photo analysis, breach users' data protection rights.
Meta counterargues that its actions are legal under the European Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In the email to users, it states, "To provide you with future user experiences, we will, starting soon, rely on the legal basis of legitimate interest when we use your information to develop and enhance AI at Meta."
The consumer advocates strongly disagree with Meta's interpretation of data protection law. "Meta has made it too easy for itself," said Wolfgang Schuldzinski, the director of the consumer center in North Rhine-Westphalia. The use of private data for AI development should not be allowed without the consent of users. "Since the data used in this process can be highly sensitive." Users likely didn't foresee in the past that their posted information could be used for AI training.
Meta has until June 19, 2024, to deliver a cease and desist declaration following the warning from the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center. If Meta misses this deadline, the consumer advocates may file a lawsuit.
