Meta will use your photos for AI from 27 May - what does that mean and what can you do about it?
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From Tuesday 27 May 2025, Meta will start using public data from European users to train AI models. This involves photos, captions, comments and likes on public profiles or pages. This move has implications for your privacy and thus raises a lot of questions. Below, we explain what is changing, why it is happening and how you can object.
What exactly is happening?
Meta wants to improve its AI assistant Meta AI by using European data. This way, AI can be better tailored to our languages, habits and culture. To do so, it collects public content from adult users:
- Public Instagram photos and captions
- Comments and posts in public Facebook groups
- Likes and interactions with content
What is not used:
- Private messages
- Content from minors
- Content you only share with friends or a limited group
According to the company, this is not a violation of privacy laws. It does not use private messages or content from minors. But it does deal with personal content that you have not put online with the idea that it will be used for artificial intelligence.
What are the implications for you?
1. Public content used for AI training
Meta automatically uses your public content for AI purposes unless you object. This is due to a recent change in the privacy policy stating that they may use your content for training their AI models.
2. Less grip on your data
From the moment they have used your content, it is practically impossible to reverse it. If you object later than 27 May, the effect of your data in the trained models is preserved.
3. Privacy and trust under pressure
This change could damage users' trust. Many people are now going to share less personal content if they know it will also end up in AI systems.
What can you do about this?
Although objecting is now less effective, you can still partially restrict the use of your data.
- Check your profile settings: Is your profile public or private?
- Limit what you share on public platforms
- Follow updates from privacy organisations and stay abreast of changes
Conclusion
Meta's decision marks the next step in using data for AI purposes. While technically impressive, it also raises many questions for people. Ultimately, the choice still lies with you. Think consciously and critically about what you share online and limit your online presence.
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