Meta is set to train its AI models with Europeans’ public data, and you can stop it doing so
- Meta will soon start training its AI models with EU users’ data
- Meta AI will be trained with all users’ interactions and public content posted on Meta’s social platforms
- The Big Tech giant resumes its AI training plan, after pausing the launch amid EU data regulators’ concerns
Meta has resumed its plan to train its AI models with EU users’ data, the company announced on Monday, April 14, 2025.
All public posts and comments shared by adults across Meta’s social platforms will soon be used to train Meta AI, alongside all interactions users directly exchange with the chatbot.
This comes as the Big Tech giant 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.
“We believe we have a responsibility to build AI that’s not just available to Europeans, but is built for them. That’s why it’s so important for our generative AI models to be trained on a variety of data so they can understand the incredible and diverse nuances and complexities that make up European communities,” wrote Meta in the official announcement.
This kind of training, the company notes, it’s not unique to Meta or Europe. Meta AI collects and processes the same information, in fact, across all regions where it’s available.
As mentioned earlier, Meta AI will be trained with all public posts and interactions’ data from adult users. Public data from the accounts of people in the EU under the age of 18 won’t be used for training purposes.
Meta also promises that no people’s private messages shared on iMessage and WhatsApp will ever be used for AI training purposes, too.
Beginning this week, all Meta users in the EU will start receiving notifications about the terms of the new AI training, either via app or email.
These notifications will include a link to a form where people can withdraw their consent for their data to be used for training Meta AI.
“We have made this objection form easy to find, read, and use, and we’ll honor all objection forms we have already received, as well as newly submitted ones,” explains the provider.
It’s crucial to understand that once fed into an LLM database, you will be completely losing control over your data, as these systems make it very hard (if not impossible) to exercise the GDPR‘s right to be forgotten.
This is why 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.
“We recommend filling out this form when it’s sent to you to protect your privacy. 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.
Meta’s announcement comes at the same time that the Irish data regulators have opened an investigation into X’s Grok AI. Specifically, the enquiry seeks to determine whether Elon Musk’s platform uses publicly-accessible X posts to train its generative AI models in compliance with GDPR rules.
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