Meta Platforms will not launch its Meta AI models in Europe for now after the Irish privacy regulator told it to delay its plan to harness data from Facebook and Instagram users, the U.S. social media company said on Friday.
The move by Meta came after complaints and a call by
advocacy group NOYB to data protection authorities in Austria, Belgium, France,
Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Spain to
act against the company.
At issue is Meta’s plan to use personal data to train its
artificial intelligence (AI) models without seeking consent, although the
company has said it would use publicly available and licensed online
information.
Meta on Friday said the Irish privacy watchdog had asked it
to delay training its large language models (LLMs) using public content shared
by Facebook and Instagram adult users.
“We’re disappointed by the request from the Irish Data
Protection Commission (DPC), our lead regulator, on behalf of the European DPAs
… particularly since we incorporated regulatory feedback and the European DPAs
have been informed since March,” the company said in an updated blogpost. Reuters
It said th” Irish request is a step backwards for European
innovation and competition in AI development.
“Put simply, without including local information we’d only
be able to offer people a second-rate experience. This means we aren’t able to
launch Meta AI in Europe at the moment,” Meta said.
The DPC welcomed Meta's pause, saying its decision came
after intensive engagement with the regulator.
Meta said the delayed launch of its AI models would also
allow it to address requests from Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office
(ICO).
The ICO welcomed Meta’s decision, saying it would continue
to monitor major developers of generative AI, including Meta, to review the
safeguards they have put in place and ensure the information rights of UK users
are protected.
NOYB’s chair Max Schrems attributed Meta’s temporary halt to
the group’s complaints filed last week.
“So far there is no official change of the Meta privacy
policy, which would make this commitment legally binding. The cases we filed
are ongoing and will need a determination,” he said in a statement.