Hundreds of thousands of users across all meta platforms are posting the same statement that they want to protect their social media profiles from being used by the company and AI. In reality, however, this message means nothing and protects no one.

“Goodbye, Meta AI,” the post begins. “Since Meta is now a public entity, all members are required to make a similar statement. If you do not post at least once, you will be deemed to consent to the use of your information and photos. I do not give permission to Meta or anyone else to use my personal information, profile information, or photos.”

The “copypasta” – a term describing a block of text copied and pasted all over the internet – appears to have started in early September. It’s not the first time an inaccurate privacy copypasta has circulated on Meta, either. Just last May, people shared a similarly worded post that said, “I hereby declare that I do not grant permission for the use of my personal information or photos.”

Meta did not immediately respond to Yahoo News’ request for comment. The posts are now labeled as “false information” in Instagram Stories.

Can Meta use public posts from Instagram and Facebook to train AI?

Yes, Meta can use your public posts and photos to train its AI.

According to a September 2023 press release, users who agree to Meta’s terms of service allow the company to use “publicly shared posts from Instagram and Facebook – including photos and text” to train its AI models. These posts do not include private ones, including private messages with friends.

Users also cannot retroactively negate or opt out of any privacy or copyright terms they agreed to when signing up for their accounts. The fact that Meta is a publicly traded company also does not affect users’ privacy rights as set out in the Terms and Conditions.

In the US, online privacy laws are not as strict, so Meta was allowed to start using public posts for AI training without notifying or warning users. In Europe, however, where much stricter rules apply, users were notified in advance and given the option to opt out of the privacy policy, allowing Meta to use years of public posts and images to train its AI.

However, messages users exchange with Meta’s AI chatbot are stored and used to train generative AI.

Is this legal?

Facebook’s legal terms state: “When you share a photo on Facebook, you give us permission to save, copy, and share it with others.” Users agree to these terms when they create an account on Facebook or Instagram.

For US users, there is no way to stop Meta from scraping public posts. The only option for users is to make their accounts private, as Meta only extracts from publicly available posts.