Social media giant Meta has postponed the launch of its new artificial intelligence (AI) program in the European Union following complaints in several Member States that the company was abusing users' profile data.
Meta, the parent company of some of the world's largest social media platforms, planned to implement a new privacy policy on 26 June. It would allow it to use years of its users' public data, including personal details, photos, posts and comments, to train its AI program that could, for example, generate text and images or answer user queries.
However, the company has now announced it will be postponing the rollout of this software. This decision follows a series of complaints lodged in Europe about the AI initiative and the lack of information received by users.
Prominent Austrian privacy advocate, Max Schrems, through his NGO ‘None of Your Business’ (Noyb), filed complaints opposing Meta’s plans in 11 European countries including Belgium last week. Noyb criticised the social network corporation’s new privacy policies and contended that Meta employs a ‘misleading and complicated’ opt-out model rather than seeking explicit consent (opt-in) for personal data usage.
Later in the week, consumer protection organisation Test Achats filed a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority against Meta's new privacy policy. It argued that users are not properly informed about it and cannot effectively exercise their right to object.
'Setback for European innovation'
According to the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), where Meta’s European headquarters are located, there has been ‘intense communication’ between the regulator and the corporation regarding the new policy. It now requested that Meta temporarily suspend the use of European data in the AI models.
Without ‘local information’, Meta suggests the roll-out of its new AI services would provide a ‘second-rate experience’. Consequently, they decided against launching Meta AI, a competitor to the likes of OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT, in Europe for now.
Meta described this as a ‘setback for European innovation and competitiveness in AI development’. The corporation also emphasised that its approach complies with ‘European laws and regulations’ and claims to be more transparent than other industry players. In a brief response, the DPC welcomed Meta’s decision.
