- A European advocacy group filed complaints in 11 countries over a new Meta AI policy.
- NOYB, or None of Your Business, said Meta's new policy would let it scrape user data to train AI.
- Unlike American users, Europeans have an option to opt out of sharing their information.
Meta is scrambling to compete in the red-hot AI arms race, but an advocacy group is demanding nearly a dozen European countries force Meta to pump the breaks.
The European advocacy group announced complaints in 11 European countries over an upcoming Meta policy change that would allow it to scrape old user data from Facebook to train its artificial intelligence models.
Meta "plans to use years of personal posts, private images, or online tracking data for an undefined 'AI technology' that can ingest personal data from any source and share any information with undefined 'third parties,'" the group, aptly named None of Your Business, or NOYB, said in a press announcement asking authorities to step in and suspend the policy.
Meta's updated privacy policy is scheduled to go live in late June. It would impact some 400 million European users, NOYB said. The group said it was concerning that users would have to manually opt out of providing data in the future.
"Instead of asking users for their consent (opt-in), Meta argues that it has a legitimate interest that overrides the fundamental right to data protection and privacy of European users," NOYB said. Europe has strict data privacy laws outlined in the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, which went into effect in 2018 and has had a profound effect on Big Tech's operations in Europe.
NOYB filed complaints in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Spain.
A Meta spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, but the company previously told Reuters that its new policy followed the law.
"We are confident that our approach complies with privacy laws, and our approach is consistent with how other tech companies are developing and improving their AI experiences in Europe (including Google and Open AI)," a Meta spokesperson said, according to Reuters.
In the United States, Meta AI has already had access to public user data and private chat conversations on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and there is no way to fully opt out of sharing your information, The Washington Post reported.