In contrast to users in the EU, Australians do not have access to the opt-out option.
In the course of a government investigation into the use of artificial intelligence in Australia, Melinda Claybaugh, the global privacy director for Meta, was questioned about whether or not her firm has been gathering data from Australians in order to train its generative AI technology. Initially, Claybaugh rejected the claim, but after being questioned, she eventually confirmed that Meta scrapes all of the photographs and texts in all of the Facebook and Instagram posts from as far back as 2007 unless the user had switched their posts to private. This information was obtained via ABC News. In addition, she stated that the corporation does not provide customers in Australia with the same opt-out choice as it offers for consumers in the European Union.
Despite the fact that Claybaugh stated that Meta does not scrape the accounts of users who are under the age of 18, she revealed that the company does still gather their images and other information if they are put on the accounts of their parents or guardians. One question that she was unable to answer was whether or not the company collects data from previous years once a user reaches the age of 18. After being questioned about the reason why Meta does not provide Australians with the choice to decline consent to data collection, Claybaugh responded by stating that the company operates in the European Union “in response to a very specific legal frame,” which most likely refers to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union.
Meta had informed users in the European Union that it will gather their data for the purpose of AI training unless they choose to opt out of having their data collected. “I will say that the ongoing conversation in Europe is the direct result of the existing regulatory landscape,” Claybaugh explained during the hearing. “I will say that.” However, Claybaugh stated that there is a “ongoing legal question around what is the interpretation of existing privacy law with respect to AI training.” This is the case even in the region. Because of what Meta claims is a lack of clarification from European regulators, the company has made the decision to not provide its multimodal artificial intelligence model and any future versions in the block. However, the majority of its concerns concentrated on the challenges of training AI models with data from European consumers while adhering to the regulations of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Despite the fact that there are legal concerns with the implementation of AI in Europe, the fact of the matter is that Meta is providing users throughout the EU with the ability to prevent data collection. “Meta made it clear today that if Australia had these same laws Australians’ data would also have been protected,” Australian Senator David Shoebridge said in an interview with ABC News. “The government’s failure to act on privacy means companies like Meta are continuing to monetise and exploit pictures and videos of children on Facebook.”