Meta is using your photos to train its AI. Here’s what you need to know

How Meta is using your photos to train its AI

On June 26, 2024, Meta updated its privacy policy to allow the company to use your personal information on Meta-related services (like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Threads) to train its AI. Under the new policy, Meta will use your public Facebook posts, Instagram photos and captions, data from third-party services, and any chats you’ve with Facebook’s AI chatbot to train its large language models (LLMs). Meta says it won't use your private messages or anything you've posted privately; however, it will use user data from as far back as 2007.

Chris Cox, Meta's chief product officer, explained to Bloomberg what kinds of data are used. "We don't train on private stuff, we don't train on stuff people share with their friends. We do train on things that are public." In other words, your posts and pictures and videos — anything you’ve uploaded and shared to Meta’s platforms publicly — are fair game.

Opting out isn’t easy, or the same for all users

We likely only know about Meta’s AI training initiatives thanks to the European Union’s stricter privacy legislation, the General Data Protection Regulation online privacy law, which forces companies to disclose how they acquire, process, and retain your data. It also requires them to offer opt-outs.

How to opt out of Meta’s AI training within the EU and UK

When accessed from within the European Union or the United Kingdom, Meta's page "How Meta uses information for generative AI models and features" explains that users have "the right to object to information you've shared on Meta's Products and services being used to develop and improve AI at Meta."

On the Facebook help page to opt out, you will have to enter details including your country, email address, the reason why you’re opting out, and some additional information to support your request. Then, Meta will email you a one-time password (OTP) that you'll enter to confirm.

Finally, you’ll get a confirmation message stating that Meta will review your submission as soon as possible. Though it shouldn’t be the case per the GDPR, that means it’s ultimately up to Meta to decide whether you can opt out. However, some users say they’ve had their requests rejected.

Can I opt out of Meta’s AI training in the US?

The short answer is no.

Dozens of opt-out tutorials for American Meta users — like this one — immediately sprang up in the wake of the news of Meta’s AI training plans, but users quickly noted that Meta was changing its opt out messaging and pages to make it more difficult for users to request to opt out. "Meta is apparently trying to make opting out of their AI training impossible. I saw a vid on how to opt out from 20 hours ago and they've already changed the landing page layout. I can't even do what a comment from 9 hrs ago suggested bc that's gone too," one X user commented.

What can I do to protect myself?

• Delete your data. The best way to ensure Meta doesn’t have access to your data is to delete it — any pictures, videos or posts you don’t want to be trained on AI. You can run Block Party’s automation to delete your Instagram posts as a first step.
• Lock everything down. Make sure your accounts are private, and set any old pictures and posts that may inadvertently be public to be private too.
• Tell your family and friends. Even if you don’t use any of Meta’s platforms, the company can still scrape AI data about you including pictures of you if someone else posts them. Tell your loved ones to delete any pictures of you they may have posted publicly.
• Disconnect third party apps. Logging into other apps through Facebook is an easy way to access third party services, but it comes with some risk. Third party apps can collect and sell non-public information about you. It also gives those websites you log into via Facebook access to your account information, including your name, profile photo and email address. Remove “Apps and Websites” in your settings.
• Limit who can see your personal information and your old cover photos and profile pictures. Check out our guide to keeping safe from Facebook scams for detailed information on keeping your personal information secure.
• Fight for change. Find your representatives and tell them this issue is important to you.

Keep your data to yourself

Block Party is here to help keep you secure across social media. Tap below to add our extension to your browser. Once you're signed up, we'll have access to automations that can deep clean your social media, opt out your data from AI training and secure your content.