How to stop Meta from using some of your personal data to train generative AI models
Mark Zuckerberg told the world in October 2021 that he was rebranding Facebook to Meta as the company pushes toward the metaverse.
Facebook | via Reuters
Facebook users are now able to delete some personal information that can be used by the company in the training of generative artificial intelligence models.
Meta updated the Facebook help center resource section on its website this week to include a form titled “Generative AI Data Subject Rights,” which allows users to “submit requests related to your third party information being used for generative AI model training.”
The company is adding the opt-out tool as generative AI technology is taking off across tech, with companies creating more sophisticated chatbots and turning simple text into sophisticated answers and images. Meta is giving people the option to access, alter or delete any personal data that was included in the various third-party data sources the company uses to train its large language and related AI models.
On the form, Meta refers to third-party information as data “that is publicly available on the internet or licensed sources.” This kind of information, the company says, can represent some of the “billions of pieces of data” used to train generative AI models that “use predictions and patterns to create new content.”
In a related blog post on how it uses data for generative AI, Meta says it collects public information on the web in addition to licensing data from other providers. Blog posts, for example, can include personal information, such as someone’s name and contact information, Meta said.
The form doesn’t account for a user’s activity on Facebook-owned properties, such as their public Facebook comments and Instagram photos. CNBC contacted Meta for information about whether that first-party information will continue to be used in training its generative AI models. The company hasn’t responded.
Like many tech peers, including Microsoft, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet, Meta gathers enormous quantities of third-party data to train its models and related AI software.
“To train effective models to unlock these advancements, a significant amount of information is needed from publicly available and licensed sources,” Meta said in the blog post. The company added that “use of public information and licensed data is in our interests, and we are committed to being transparent about the legal bases that we use for processing this information.”
Recently, however, some data privacy advocates have questioned the practice of aggregating vast quantities of publicly available information to train AI models.
Last week, a consortium of data protection agencies from the U.K., Canada, Switzerland and other countries issued a joint statement to Meta, Alphabet, TikTok parent ByteDance, X (formerly known as Twitter), Microsoft and others about data scraping and protecting user privacy.
The letter was intended to remind social media and tech companies that they remain subject to various data protection and privacy laws around the world and “that they protect personal information accessible on their websites from data scraping, particularly so that they are compliant with data protection and privacy laws around the world.”
“Individuals can also take steps to protect their personal information from data scraping, and social media companies have a role to play in enabling users to engage with their services in a privacy protective manner,” the group said in the statement.
Here’s how you can delete some of your Facebook data used for training generative AI models:
- Go to the “Generative AI Data Subject Rights” form on Meta’s privacy policy page about generative AI.
- Click the link for “Learn more and submit requests here.”
- Choose from three options that Meta says “best describes your issue or objection.”
The first option lets people access, download, or correct any of their personal information gleaned from third-party sources that’s used to train generative AI models. By choosing the second option, they can delete any of the personal information from those third-party data sources used for training. The third option is for people who “have a different issue.”
After selecting one of the three options, users will need to pass a security check test. Some users have commented that they’re unable to finish completing the form because of what appears to be a software bug.
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Samsung Electronics to acquire heating and cooling solutions provider FläktGroup for 1.5 billion euros
Omar Marques | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
EToro, a stock brokerage platform that’s been ramping up in crypto, has priced its IPO at $52 a share, as the company prepares to test the market’s appetite for new offerings.
The Israel-based company raised nearly $310 million, selling nearly 6 million shares in a deal that values the business at about $4.2 billion. The company had planned to sell shares at $46 to $50 each. Another almost 6 million shares are being sold by existing investors.
IPOs looked poised for a rebound when President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January after a prolonged drought spurred by rising interest rates and inflationary concerns. CoreWeave’s March debut was a welcome sign for IPO hopefuls such as eToro, online lender Klarna and ticket reseller StubHub.
But tariff uncertainty temporarily stalled those plans. The retail trading platform filed for an initial public offering in March, but shelved plans as rising tariff uncertainty rattled markets. Klarna and StubHub did the same.
EToro’s Nasdaq debut, under ticker symbol ETOR, may indicate whether the public market is ready to take on risk. Digital physical therapy company Hinge Health has started its IPO roadshow, and said in a filing on Tuesday that it plans to raise up to $437 million in its upcoming offering. Also on Tuesday, fintech company Chime filed its prospectus with the SEC.
Another trading app, Webull, merged with a special-purpose acquisition company in April.
Founded in 2007 by brothers Yoni and Ronen Assia along with David Ring, eToro competes with the likes of Robinhood and makes money through fees related to trading, including spreads on buy and sell orders, and non-trading activities such as withdrawals and currency conversion.
Net income jumped almost thirteenfold last year to $192.4 million from $15.3 million a year earlier. The company has been ramping up its crypto business, with revenue from cryptoassets more than tripling to over $12 million in 2024. One-quarter of its net trading contribution last year came from crypto, up from 10% the prior year.
This isn’t eToro’s first attempt at going public. In 2022, the company scrapped plans to hit the market through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) during a sharp downturn in equity markets. The deal would have valued the company at more than $10 billion.
CEO Yoni Assia told CNBC early last year that eToro was still aiming for a market debut but “evaluating the right opportunity” as it was building relationships with exchanges, including the Nasdaq.
“We definitely are eyeing the public markets,” he said at the time. “I definitely see us becoming eventually a public company.”
EToro said in its prospectus that BlackRock had expressed interest in buying $100 million in shares at the IPO price. The company said it planned to sell 5 million shares in the offering, with existing investors and executives selling another 5 million.
Underwriters for the deal include Goldman Sachs, Jefferies and UBS.
— CNBC’s Ryan Browne and Jordan Novet contributed reporting
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