Meta has confirmed that it’s restarting efforts to train its AI systems using public Facebook and Instagram posts from its U.K. userbase.
The announcement comes three months after Facebook’s parent company paused its plans due to regulatory pressure in the U.K., with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) raising concerns over how the company might use U.K. user data to train its generative AI algorithms — and how it was going about gaining consent. The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), Meta’s lead regulator in the European Union (EU), also objected to Meta’s plans after receiving feedback from several data protection authorities across the bloc — there is no word yet on when, or if, Meta will restart its AI training efforts in the EU.
For context, Meta has been boosting its AI off user-generated content in markets such as the U.S. for some time, but Europe’s stringent privacy regulations has created obstacles for Meta — and other tech companies — looking to enhance their training dataset with more culturally diverse content. Back in May, however, Meta began notifying EU users of an upcoming privacy policy change, saying that it would begin using content from comments, interactions with companies, status updates, photos and their associated captions. The reasons, it argued, was that it needed to reflect “the diverse languages, geography and cultural references of the people in Europe.”
These changes were due to come into effect on June 26, but the announcement spurred not-for-profit privacy activist organization NOYB (“none of your business”) to file a dozen complaints with constituent EU countries, arguing that Meta was contravening various aspects of the GDPR privacy regulations. This included the issue of opt-in versus opt-out, vis à vis where personal data processing must take place, users should be asked their permission first rather than requiring action to refuse.
Meta, on the other hand, is relying on a provision within GDPR called “legitimate interest” to contend that its actions are compliant with the regulations. Meta used this legal basis previously to justify processing European users’ for targeted advertising — though the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that legitimate interest couldn’t be used as justification in that scenario, which raises doubts about Meta’s latest efforts.
That Meta has elected to kickstart its plans in the U.K., rather than the EU, is telling though, given that the U.K. is no longer part of the European Union, though it has transposed much of GDPR into its current data privacy regulatory framework.
Meta says it has now “incorporated regulatory feedback” to ensure that its approach is “even more transparent,” and from next week users will start to see in-app notifications explaining what it’s doing. From there, it will start using public content to train its AI in the coming months.
“This means that our generative AI models will reflect British culture, history, and idiom, and that U.K. companies and institutions will be able to utilise the latest technology,” the company wrote in a blog post. “We’re building AI at Meta to reflect the diverse communities around the world and we look forward to launching it in more countries and languages later this year.”
Objections
One of the many bones of contention first time around was how Meta enabled users to “opt-out.” Rather than giving users a straight ‘opt-in / out’ check-box, the company made users jump through hoops to find an objection form hidden behind multiple clicks or taps, at which point they were forced to state why they didn’t want their data to be processed. It was entirely at Meta’s discretion as to whether this request was honored, however the company said publicly that it would honor each request.
This time around, Meta is sticking with the objection form approach, meaning users will still have to formally apply to Meta to let them know that they don’t want their data used to improve Meta’s AI systems. Those who have previously objected won’t have to resubmit their objections, however.
The company says it has made its objection form simpler this time around, incorporating feedback from the ICO, though it hasn’t yet explained how it’s simpler.
An ICO spokesperson said that it will “monitor the situation” as Meta informs its U.K. users from next week and moves toward its data processing in the weeks that follow.
“It is for Meta to ensure and demonstrate ongoing compliance with data protection law,” the spokesperson said. “We have been clear that any organisation using its users’ information to train generative AI models to be transparent about how people’s data is being used. Organisations should follow our guidance and put effective safeguards in place before they start using personal data for model training, including providing a clear and simple route for users to object to the processing.”
