Meta faces complaints in 11 countries over data use for AI
Austrian privacy advocates NOYB today (6 June) lodged complaints in 11 European countries alleging Meta is seeking to use its platform users' personal data to train artificial intelligence models. The legal action comes after Meta updated its privacy policy asking to take all public and non-public user data – with the exception of chats between individuals – that it has collected since 2007 and use it for current and future "artificial intelligence technology", NOYB said.
The Big Tech company said in a statement last week that it would begin notifying people in the UK and EU about how it will use "public information they have shared on Meta's products and services to develop and improve AI at Meta within their respective privacy laws”. According to NOYB, users aren't given any information about the purposes of the "AI technology", which is against the requirements of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The complaints have been filed with privacy watchdogs in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Spain, and complainants for other EU countries are following in the coming days. The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) told Euronews Next last week that “Meta delayed the launch following a number [of] enquiries from the DPC which have been addressed”. Meta gave users four weeks' notice ahead of the initial training, the DPC said.
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