Comments related to Meta and artificial intelligence (AI) have abounded on the X network since the weekend. But they are not discussing the company’s latest advances in this technology, but rather something that touches people much more closely. Users of Facebook and Instagram, the technology’s star social networks, have received a message informing them that, starting June 26, their data will be used to train the company’s AI models. Those who do not want their data to be used for this purpose can refuse to do so, but the path to doing so is long and arduous.
Hence, many users have spread small explanatory cheat sheets on networks to achieve this. One of the most shared guides has been that of the musician, YouTuber and product designer Martin Keary (@Tantacrul in X).
1. I’m legit shocked by the design of @Goal‘s new notification informing us they want to use the content we post to train their AI models. It’s intentionally designed to be highly awkward in order to minimize the number of users who will object to it. Let me break it down. pic.twitter.com/rhKNFt7CEu
— Tantacrul (@Tantacrul) May 26, 2024
Meta’s announcement has caused rejection among users who are most jealous of their privacy, who refuse to allow a private company to train its models based on their texts and images. But the complaints are not only motivated by the legitimate defense of user privacy. There are professional sectors, such as illustrators and artists, who see this new Meta policy as a frontal attack on their work.
This group is engaged in a legal battle in the United States against several generative AI tools that take advantage of their work. A group of American creators led by Karla Ortiz filed a lawsuit in January against Stability AI (the company responsible for Stable Diffusion), Midjourney and DeviantArt for using them without their consent.
“We are preparing to expand our AI at Meta experiences (its generative AI tools) in your region. (…) In order to bring you these experiences, we will rely on the legal basis called legitimate interests to use your information in order to develop and improve AI in Meta,” indicates the message from Mark Zuckerberg’s company to its users.
Meta’s opt-out option is a piece of (abusive) performance art. The company puts you through a ridiculous maze of confusion to even arrive at the op-out request form, wasting your time, and then if you actually submit successfully, they reject the request. https://t.co/ExwRFPGjA9
— Kyle T Webster (@kyletwebster) May 28, 2024
Can Meta make such a change to its terms of service? Some jurists believe it is not clear. This is the case of Jorge García Herrero, a lawyer specialized in data protection. “Meta has to argue and demonstrate that his interests prevail over the rights of the interested parties to do what he intends to do,” he explains. In this balance, the legitimate expectations of the interested parties, the users of the platform, play a very important role. “It is obvious that whoever uploaded his texts ten years ago did not expect that they would be used to train AI models, nor that his photos would be used to perfect facial recognition models, commercially camouflaged with the claim ‘Tag your friends,’” he adds. .
For García Herrero, the least that Meta should do is guarantee that people can oppose the processing of that data. “This would require a reasonable time between the announcement of the measure and its effectiveness, a simple opposition process and a guarantee that this opposition will be respected by the responsible organization. None of these circumstances occur,” maintains the jurist.
Problems rejecting the new policy
The process for opting out of having your data used to train Meta’s AI is different on Facebook and Instagram. In the case of Facebook, you have to enter from your computer and click on the profile photo. Next, you must go to “Settings and privacy” and select “Settings”. Then select “Privacy Policy” and then “Right to Object”. But it’s not enough to click on that button: you have to fill out a small form in which you specify that you do not want the data from this account to be used to train Meta’s AI.
The Instagram route begins at app mobile. You have to go to the profile, click on the three-bar menu that appears at the top right of the screen, go down to where it says “Information”, click on “Privacy Policy”, then go down until you select “Oppose the treatment”. , “oppose” and, as in the case of Facebook, fill out the form in which the rejection of the data being used in the training of AI models is made explicit.
Many American users have shared on networks that, after following that process to the end, they get a negative response. To avoid that, in the case of EU citizens, it is important to mention in that small text that the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) must be filled out. European regulations require digital companies to specify to users what they are going to do with their data, and empower them to block the use of that data when they deem it appropriate.
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