German consumer protection group calls on Meta to halt its AI training in the EU -- will other countries follow suit?

Date:
Mon, 12 May 2025 16:17:01 +0000

Description:
Public posts and user interactions are set to feed Meta AI training from May 27. Yet, privacy advocates are questioning its legality.

FULL STORY

A German consumer protection group is calling on Meta to halt its plan to
start training its AI models with EU users' data.

The Verbraucherzentrale North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) has sent a cease and desist letter to the Big Tech giant on April 30, 2025, to demand that
Facebook and Instagram stop their AI training plans. The group also threatens further legal action if Meta decides not to comply.

"It is imperative to act quickly, because once data has been incorporated
into AI, it is difficult to retrieve it," said Christine Steffen, data protection expert at the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Advice Center, in an official announcement .

All public posts and users' interactions are set to feed Meta AI starting
from May 27, 2025. If they don't wish this to happen, EU users need to
actively opt out.

An illegal approach?

Meta, the parent company that owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, successfully launched Meta AI in the EU in March, almost a year after the
firm paused the launch amid growing concerns among EU data regulators .

In its official announcement , the company ensures that its approach complies with European laws and regulations. "We welcome the opinion provided by the EDPB in December, which affirmed that our original approach met our legal obligations," Meta wrote.

Specifically, the EDPB opinion provides a guide to help the Irish Data Protection Authority (DPA) assess the use of legitimate interest as a legal basis for AI models.

German consumer experts, however, are now arguing that a reference to legitimate interest is insufficient for Meta AI. They also point out how
users should not accept that the personal information they shared with Meta over the years could now be used for AI training.

"Furthermore, it cannot be ruled out that particularly sensitive information, which is particularly protected under the General Data Protection Regulation
( GDPR ), is also used for AI training purposes," said Steffen. "In that
case, a so-called opt-out as offered by Meta is not sufficient; those affected would have to actively consent to this."

Austrian privacy advocacy group noyb (None of Your Business) also believes
that Meta AI may not be compliant with GDPR laws.

"Meta is deliberately trying to ignore European law and is putting its commercial interests above the fundamental right to data protection of those affected," said noyb's co-founder and lawyer Max Schrems in an official announcement , sharing his total support with Verbraucherzentrale NRW's actions.

"Meta should simply ask the affected people for their consent. But if Meta ignores EU law, there will be consequences for the whole of Europe," Schrems added.

With the Meta AI officially kicking off in about two weeks ' time, we might
see more actions from other European consumer groups, privacy authorities, or the DPA itself.

In the meantime, privacy experts like Proton, the provider behind one of the best VPN and encrypted email apps, are urging people in Europe concerned
about their privacy to opt out of Meta AI training. "It's hard to predict
what this data might be used for in the future better to be safe than
sorry," Proton wrote on a LinkedIn post .

If you are in the EU, you have until May 27 to stop Facebook and Instagram
from using any of your data to train their AI models. To do so, you need to
log in to your account and fill out an objection form (a form for Facebook
and one for Instagram ). A reason to object isn't required.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/german-consumer-protection- group-calls-on-meta-to-halt-its-ai-training-in-the-eu-will-other-countries-fol low-suit

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