The Data Protection Commission (DPC) has said that Meta has introduced a number of significant measures and improvements to protect people’s data used for the training of its artificial intelligence (AI) models.
In March, Meta announced the European roll out of AI features on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, in the form of an AI chatbot assistant that responds to queries from users.
At the time, the DPC said it has been examining Meta AI over recent months and that it would keep it under review as it rolls out to users over the coming weeks.
Last year, Meta said it was withholding the roll out of certain AI models in the EU and that it was pausing plans to use personal data to train AI models after concerns were raised by the DPC over the use of public social media posts.
The data watchdog has said Meta plans to begin the training of its generative AI models on 27 May.
Among the data protection improvements implemented by Meta are updated transparency notices to users, as well as updated and easier to use objection forms for people who do not want their public data used.
The company is also providing longer notice periods to users and information on controls available to change all published posts from public to private to avoid being trained for the models.
“As part of our ongoing monitoring, the DPC has required Meta to compile a report which, amongst other things, will set out an updated evaluation of the efficacy and appropriateness of the measures and safeguards it has introduced regarding the processing taking place,” the DPC said.
“This report is expected in October 2025,” it added.
The DPC said it continues to actively monitor the roll-out of the objection forms, and information to users, to ensure that all concerned persons have an opportunity to object to the processing of their public posts.
