Meta want your data, how to defend it!

Because personal data protection is very weak in the United States, this only applies to Europeans.

Meta has confirmed an open secret: it uses social media users’ personal data. I’m talking mainly about Facebook and Instagram because the opt-out procedure is clear there, though the same principle applies to other platforms as well.

Fortunately, data-protection laws are very strict in Europe, so Meta hasn’t fully gotten away with this until now—but it has finally been reined in.

To stop Meta from using your Facebook and Instagram data to train its AI systems, you must act before 31 May.

Here’s what you need to do (credit goes to Ireland’s Data Protection Commission for making this possible):

To withhold permission from Meta, follow these steps:

For Facebook

1. Tap ☰ Menu (on mobile) or click your profile picture ➜ Settings & privacy ➜ Privacy Center.
2. Scroll to “AI at Meta” ➜ How Meta uses information for generative AI.
3. Tap Right to object.
4. Complete the form:
5. • Country – select your country.
   • Email – the address where you want the confirmation sent.
   • Reason / How this affects you – one sentence is enough, e.g.
     “Under GDPR Art. 21 I object to Meta using any of my personal data to train AI.”

For Instagram

1. Go to your profile ➜ ≡ Settings & activity.
2. Choose About ➜ Privacy Policy.
3. In the banner titled AI at Meta, tap Right to object
   (if you haven’t opened the Privacy Policy before, the link may read “Learn more about your rights”).
4. Fill in the same three fields as for Facebook and tap Submit.