Meta has used Instagram posts to train artificial intelligence

Meta has admitted that it used all users’ posts on Facebook and Instagram from 2007 to today to train its AI, unless users manually set the settings to prevent the company from doing so. Although this admission was made by a Meta representative in front of Australian authorities, the practice applies worldwide.

According to Australia‘s ABC News, “Melinda Kleebaugh”, head of Meta’s global privacy unit, who was present at a government meeting in Australia on artificial intelligence, confirmed after a lot of back and forth that Meta has collected all the posts and texts of Australian users on Instagram platforms. And Facebook has used it since 2007 to train its AI tools. However, Claybaugh claimed that data from users who have made their photos private will not be used to train AI.

All the content of meta platforms are used for artificial intelligence training

Melinda Claybaugh also confirmed that Australian users will not be able to opt out of Meta’s AI training program. The company previously had to offer an option to opt out of data sharing to users active in the EU and the UK.

The senior director of Meta also said that the company does not use the information contained in the profiles of users under the age of 18 to train artificial intelligence tools. However, he went on to admit that if information about users under the age of 18 was published on their parents’ accounts, Meta would still collect that data. Ms. Claybaugh also did not answer a question about whether it collects metadata from previous years when a user turns 18.

Meta previously told EU users that it would use their data to train its AI unless they chose not to share their data with the company.

The revelation of Meta’s use of Australian users’ data and the lack of an option not to share data with the company has led Australian lawmakers to criticize the country’s government for not enacting similar laws to the European Union.