Meta and the utilisation of data belonging to the Australian residents
In a testimony before the Australian government probe, Meta the company that owns Facebook and Instagram has said that it employs users’ data to train its generative A.I technology. Melinda Claybaugh, Meta’s global chief privacy officer, admitted later that the company was sucking all Facebook and Instagram photos and text from public posts since 2007, except if the owner had changed their settings to private.
As far as collection and protection of minors’ data are concerned,
It is also important to point out that the possibility to create accounts of users under the age of 18 is not excluded. Claybaugh said that in case they are posted on parents’ or guardians’ accounts, their photos and other information are also captured. ABC News also note that, However, it could not state whether the company acquire data from prior years once the user is over the age of majority.
Opt-out and EU regulations
Customers from the European Union do have an advantage in that they are able to decline this data amassing as australian customers cannot. There is an opt-out in view of the EU’s « particular legal regime », presumably in reference to the GDPR.
However, Claybaugh also explained that there is this on-going legal problem of how the existing privacy law applies to the use of AI training even with this opt-out option.
Australian Government Involvement
The Australia’s ABC News Channel quoted Australian Senator David Shoebridge as saying that if the Australian laws on data protection were similar to the EU’s, Australians’ data would be protected too. He also offended the ignorance of the government on privacy pointing out that firms such as Meta have continued to monetise and profit from images and videos of children on Facebook.
