Meta Platforms faced eleven complaints regarding proposed changes to its use of personal data for AI model training without consent.
On June 5, Meta Platforms received a total of eleven complaints about the proposed changes to how it uses personal data to train its artificial intelligence models without first obtaining consent.
It is possible that these modifications will violate the privacy regulations of the European Union. In order to put an end to the use of such information, the privacy advocacy group known as None of Your Business (NYOB) has requested that national privacy watchdogs take prompt action.
The following countries submitted each of the eleven complaints: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Spain.
The complaints’ content
According to the complaints, the recent revisions that Meta made to its privacy policy, which went into effect on June 26, would make it possible for the corporation to use years’ worth of personal posts, private photographs, and online tracking data for its artificial intelligence technological advancements.
Due to the impending changes, the National Organization for Youth (NOYB) requested that the data protection authorities in the 11 nations initiate an immediate review.
According to a statement from NYOB, Meta’s newly revised privacy policy cites a legitimate purpose in using users’ data to train and enhance its generative AI models and other AI tools, which it can share with third parties. This comment follows the company’s recent change to its privacy policy.
Millions of users in Europe will be impacted by the policy change, which would prevent them from withdrawing their data once it has been entered into the system.
NOYB has in the past lodged a number of complaints against Meta and other large technology businesses, alleging that they have violated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union.
European court ruling ignored by Meta
This regulation contains provisions that can result in fines of up to four percent of a company’s total global revenue for infringement. The founder of NOYB, Max Schrems, published a statement in which he mentioned that the European Court of Justice has already made a landmark decision on this topic in 2021.
“The European Court of Justice (CJEU) has already made it clear that Meta has no ‘legitimate interest’ to override users’ right to data protection when it comes to advertising… It seems that Meta is once again blatantly ignoring the judgments of the CJEU.”
This decision ought to serve as a reference point for addressing Meta’s intended use of personal data. Schrems said that it is completely absurd to entrust users with the burden of protecting their privacy, and he stated that this is their position.
As a result of the law, Meta is required to gain users’ express approval rather than provide a covert and deceptive opt-out option. He emphasized that in order for Meta to use users’ data, they must first ask for permission from the people themselves.
Instead, Meta has incorrectly enabled consumers to request their exclusion from data utilization.Google faced a lawsuit on the same grounds after revising its privacy policy in July 2023. The corporation faced accusations of exploiting vast amounts of data, including intellectual property-protected content, in its artificial intelligence training.