Breaking: Meta halts AI rollout in Europe after ‘request’ from Irish data protection authorities

Facebook and Instagram’s parent company Meta is pausing plans to roll out artificial intelligence (AI) tools in Europe, following a “request” from Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC), the firm said in a blogpost on Friday (14 June)

Earlier this week, influential digital rights advocacy group Noyb, filed complaints in 11 data protection authorities about Meta’s AI plans in Europe, requesting an urgent procedure, before the plans were to be rolled out on 26 June.

Noyb argued when announcing the complaints on 6 June, that Meta’s AI plans were too vague to process user’s public posts, and that the Irish DPC was “complicit” in the rollout.

Meta was planning to use public posts, including images and videos, shared on its platforms to train AI large language models which would then be used to create generative AI “experiences.”

Meta’s “decision followed intensive engagement between the DPC and Meta,” said the Irish authority in its statement on Friday. It said it “welcomed” the decision and that it will continue to engage with Meta, “in cooperation” with other European Digital Protection Authorities (DPAs).

The company said it is “disappointed” by the Irish DPC “request” which came “on behalf of” European DPAs “to delay training our large language models (LLMs) using public content shared by adults on Facebook and Instagram.”

The delay will deprive European users of AI innovation, said Meta.

One aspect of Noyb’s complaint was the fact that users  would have to opt out of the new Meta features, as opposed to opting in.

The EU’s landmark data protection law allows companies to do “almost anything” as long as their users opt in, said Noyb in its own statement.

Meta could therefore roll out its AI technology in Europe at a later point, should it “just bother to ask people whether they agree,” said Noyb.

[Edited by Rajnish Singh]

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