Facebook Has Been Secretly Sucking User Data Since 2007, Here’s Its Confession
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Facebook has finally admitted to secretly taking user data to train its artificial intelligence (AI) system. The data that was sucked up ranged from photos, posts, and other public data from Australian users.
Facebook was also accused of not providing an option for users to refuse access to the data suction, quoted from ABC, Friday (13/9/2024).
Meta was investigated in Australia regarding the collection of data from all citizens of neighboring countries in order to build generative AI tools. Initially, Meta’s Global Privacy Director, Melinda Claybaugh, rejected various accusations from Australian regulators.
Labor Senator Tony Sheldon asked whether the data collection had been carried out since 2007. Claybaugh then said, “we haven’t done that”.
However, everything changed when Senator David Shoebridge gave a more detailed statement.
“The reality is that if a user has not set their posts to private since 2007, Meta has decided to take all the photos and text from all their public posts on Instagram and Facebook. The user has to consciously set their posts to private [so that their data is not sucked up by the platform. That’s the reality, right?” said Shoebridge.
Claybaugh could no longer deny it and answered “yes”.
Furthermore, Claybaugh said that the accounts of users under 18 were not deleted. However, he confirmed that the data would be deleted.
ABC reported that Facebook representatives did not answer whether the company would delete the data of users who are now adults, but when the data collection took place they were still under 18 years old.
Facebook applies different treatments to users in the European Union and the United States. Users from the two countries were told that Facebook would use their data to train generative AI products.
Facebook also gives users the option to refuse their data being used to train AI. Claybaugh confirmed the information and said the policy follows binding regulations from the European Union.
“You’re right that we offer an opt-out option for European users. That’s a result of the regulatory landscape,” Claybaugh said.
SOURCE : CNBC INDONESIA
