Facebook — Policy Change
Executive Summary
Meta began training its generative AI models on public posts, photos, and comments from EU/EEA Facebook and Instagram users, relying on the 'legitimate interest' legal basis under GDPR rather than explicit consent. Privacy group noyb threatened legal action.
What Happened
Meta began training its generative AI models on public posts, photos, and comments from adult Facebook and Instagram users in the EU/EEA on May 27, 2025. The company had initially planned to launch this training in March 2024 but paused in June 2024 after the Irish Data Protection Commission raised concerns. Following engagement with regulators and implementation of additional safeguards, Meta proceeded with the updated plan.
Who Is Affected
Adult users of Facebook and Instagram in the EU and EEA who have made posts publicly visible are affected, as their public content is now being used to train Meta's AI models. Users who had previously set their posts to private or who submitted objection forms before the launch date are not included in the training data.
Why It Matters
This represents a significant use of the 'legitimate interest' legal basis under GDPR for AI training at scale, rather than requiring explicit user consent. The case has drawn attention from privacy regulators across Europe through the European Data Protection Board and has been subject to intense regulatory scrutiny over more than a year, setting potential precedent for how other technology companies may handle AI training on user data in the EU.
What You Should Do
Users can submit an objection form that Meta has made available in-app and across all European jurisdictions to prevent their data from being used for AI training. Users can also change their existing public posts to private settings to exclude them from future training. These controls have been accessible for over a year according to the regulatory agreement.
AI-Assisted
Event summaries are generated by Claude AI from verified sources and reviewed by humans before publication.
Sources