In a recent parliamentary inquiry, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, admitted to using public data from Australian adult users to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models. Unlike their European counterparts, Australian users are not provided with an option to opt out of this data collection practice.
Data Collection Practices
Meta's director of privacy policy, Melinda Claybaugh, confirmed that the company scrapes public photos, posts, and other data from Australian users aged 18 and above. This includes content dating back to 2007, unless users have explicitly set their posts to private.
The data collection extends to public photos of children shared on adult accounts. However, Claybaugh stated that accounts belonging to users under 18 are not scraped.
European Users' Advantage
In contrast to Australia, Meta has paused the launch of its AI products in Europe due to privacy concerns stemming from the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). European users have been given the option to opt out of having their data used for AI training.
Claybaugh explained that this difference is due to the "specific legal frame" in Europe and ongoing discussions about interpreting existing privacy laws concerning AI training.
Australian Privacy Concerns
The revelation has sparked concerns among Australian lawmakers. Labor senator Tony Sheldon expressed that millions of Australians have not consented to their personal content being used to train AI models.
Greens senator David Shoebridge highlighted the need for stronger privacy laws in Australia, similar to those in Europe, to protect citizens' data from exploitation by tech giants.
Meta's Stance
Meta defended its practices, stating that extensive data is necessary to develop "flexible and powerful" AI tools with fewer biases. The company emphasized that only public posts are used and that users can set their content to private to prevent future scraping.
However, this does not address the issue of data that has already been collected.
Looking Ahead
As the Australian government prepares to announce reforms to the Privacy Act, pressure is mounting to implement stronger protections for user data. The incident highlights the ongoing global debate about data privacy and the ethical use of personal information in AI development.