Meta faces row over plan to use European data for AI
Meta has been hit with multiple privacy complaints in Europe, but cited a "legitimate interest" to process personal data for AI training.
The privacy group, the
European Center for Digital Rights
-- also known as Noyb ("None of Your Business") -- threatened to file an injunction or class-action lawsuit against Meta if it does not halt plans.
"Meta's absurd claims that stealing everyone's (personal) data is necessary for AI training is laughable," Noyb founder Max Schrems said in a statement.
"Other AI providers do not use social network data -- and generate even better models than Meta," he added.
When
Meta AI
first launched in the
European Union
in late March, the tech giant was at pains to point out that the chatbot was not trained on data from European users.
Its rollout on the continent was delayed by more than a year as a result of overlapping European regulations on emerging technologies, including user data, AI and digital markets.
Following the complaints, Meta temporarily put its AI plans on hold in June 2024, before recently announcing it would go ahead with them.
"It is... totally absurd to argue that Meta needs the personal data of everyone that uses Facebook or Instagram in the past 20 years to train AI," Schrems said, adding the plans were "neither legal nor necessary".
"Meta simply says that (its) interest in making money is more important than the rights of its users," he said, adding that users could simply be asked for their consent.
With about 400 million estimated Meta users in Europe, the approval of 10 percent of them would "already clearly be sufficient" for AI language training and the like, Schrems said.
Launched in 2018, Noyb has taken several court proceedings against technology giants, often prompting action from regulatory authorities.
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Time of India
19 minutes ago
- Time of India
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News18
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Mint
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