Meta’s plan to use social media data to train its AI systems faces opposition from European users. A study by Max Schrems’ privacy group, Noyb, reveals only 7% of surveyed German users consent to this data usage, and roughly 27% are unaware of Meta’s practices.

Schrems criticized Meta, suggesting it prioritizes profit over user privacy by leveraging social data for AI advantages. Despite a temporary suspension in Europe last year, EU and UK regulators eventually approved Meta’s ‘legitimate interests’ rationale, allowing AI training to resume.

Meta insists it communicated its data practices to users via billions of notifications, countering Noyb’s claims of user unawareness. With Noyb considering legal action that could lead to significant penalties, European privacy officials foresee potential EU court involvement on this issue.