In response to a viral copypasta message circulating widely across Facebook and Instagram, users have been led to believe they can prevent Meta from leveraging their data for AI training by posting a specific disclaimer. This claim, however, has been debunked as false. The message, which surfaced on social media in September 2024, has misled over half a million users, including several celebrities, into thinking they can safeguard their personal data through this method.
The misleading post reads: "Goodbye, Meta AI. Please note that an attorney has advised us to put this on; failure to do so may result in legal consequences. As Meta is now a public entity, all members must post a similar statement. If you do not post at least once, it will be assumed you are OK with them using your information and photos. I do not give Meta or anyone else permission to use any of my personal data, profile information or photos."
Fact-checking websites such as Lead Stories traced the origin of the post to a Facebook entry dated September 1, 2024. Despite its widespread dissemination and the seeming legal authority it claims, the message does not alter any user settings or their agreements with Meta regarding the use of their data.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, rolled out new generative AI features in September 2023. The company clarified its data usage in an official statement, noting, "Publicly shared posts from Instagram and Facebook — including photos and text — were part of the data used to train the generative AI models... We didn't train these models using people's private posts. We also do not use the content of your private messages with friends and family to train our AIs."
Meta's terms of service, to which users consent when creating an account, state that by sharing content covered by intellectual property rights, the user grants Meta a nonexclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free and worldwide license to use the content in various ways, within the guidelines of the user's privacy and application settings.
Users wishing to opt-out of their data being used for AI training may encounter regional restrictions. In the European Union, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides a legal framework for individuals to request their data not be used. Users in the EU can submit their requests through a designated form. In contrast, users in the U.S. and other countries without comprehensive data privacy laws have no definitive method to prevent Meta from utilizing their data for AI training, as Meta currently does not offer an opt-out feature for these regions.
Meta representatives have noted that while an opt-out feature is not available, in-platform tools exist that allow users to delete personal data from chats with Meta AI across its apps. Additionally, users can set their accounts to private to reduce the data accessible for AI training.
This is not the first instance where similar disclaimers have gone viral, purporting to protect users' personal data. Trusted sources like Snopes have debunked multiple iterations of such claims over the past two decades, including those related to the fictitious "internet privacy act" and similar posts cropping up almost annually.
In summary, the ongoing misinformation campaign about stopping Meta from using personal data by posting a certain message online is baseless. Users’ data use agreements remain unchanged unless specified otherwise within Meta’s established terms or through applicable regional data protection laws like GDPR.
Source: Noah Wire Services