Meta has admitted that it uses public posts from Facebook and Instagram users in Australia to train its AI models. The company’s global privacy manager, Melinda Claybaugh, confirmed the information during an Australian government investigation into its AI practices. The most shocking part is that since 2007, the company has been using this data to train AI unless users set their posts to private.

Meta admits using Australian user data for AI training

According to ABC News, Meta does not allow users in Australia to choose how their data is used, whereas in European Union countries, under privacy laws, users have the right to “ opt out ” of having their data used for AI training.

However, since there is no such regulation in Australia, users cannot prevent their posts from being used by Meta’s AI models. Meta says that only posts and comments set to “public” are used for this purpose.

Posts with more limited privacy settings are not affected by this process. However, due to the lack of privacy laws in Australia, Meta’s application has caused controversy. It remains to be seen what steps the Australian government will take in this regard.

Meta’s move has sparked a new debate about how big tech companies collect and use user data. Let’s remind privacy-sensitive users that they should check app permissions and be more careful from now on.

What do you think? Have you checked what you allow on Facebook and Instagram? You can write your opinions in the comments section below.