Meta To Train Their AI With Users’ Personal Data, But Makes It Difficult To Opt Out Of It

The following report is by Reclaim The Net:

Anyone with even some cursory knowledge of how user interface/experience (UX) but also user behavior works will tell you that “default (settings) is king.”

That is why the ability to “opt-out” (that is, remove yourself from a feature baked in as default) although it seems fair enough at first glance, is actually often a deliberate choice to harm users’ interests, by banking on their inertia.

But then when even that option is degraded to what some refer as “nearly impossible to opt out” – things start looking really bad.

They get even worse when you learn that this concerns your personal data being used to train AI models. And by none other than that paragon of habitual disrespect for user privacy and security, Meta.

This is what Instagram and Facebook users in the EU (and the UK) are being told about the whole “operation”: “We’re getting ready to expand our AI at Meta experiences to your region.”

But “your region” – i.e., the UK and the 27-member bloc, have some fairly strict legislation in place, at least formally, to protect privacy and security of online data. And so, the Meta message sent to them continued:

To help bring these experiences to you, we’ll now rely on the legal basis called legitimate interests for using your information to develop and improve AI at Meta. This means that you have the right to object to how your information is used for these purposes. If your objection is honored, it will be applied from then on…