Tag Archive for: Meta

How to stop Facebook and Instagram using your posts for AI

Meta are allowing Facebook and Instagram users to opt out of their posts and content being used for generative AI training. For content creators it’s their own hard work, for individuals it may be their private photos, but you can see why you’d want to stop them being able to do so.

It’s not the easiest process it could be, but it is pretty straightforward for those based in the UK and EU – and you need to act before 26 June. I explain how below.

How to opt out of Facebook and Instagram using your posts for AI

You may have received an email like the one below, or a notification in your app, for your Facebook or Instagram accounts.

You can tap or click on ‘right to object’ to start the process to stop them using your content for AI training.

If you haven’t received this email and want to try to appeal against it, try this link.

I have found that for one account, I’ve not received any notification, by app or email, and when I tried going directly to the appeals page, I wasn’t allowed to access it.

How to stop Facebook and Instagram using your content for IA training: appeal page won't load

How to explain why you want to stop Meta using your posts Facebook for AI

You should see a page called ‘Object to your information being used for AI at Meta’.

How to opt out of Facebook and Instagram using your posts for AI training: Meta objection page

Select your country and enter the email associated with your account – you have to repeat this process for each individual account, unfortunately.
The section ‘please tell us how this processing impacts you’ may feel overwhelming, but I’ve tested different approaches with my personal and professional accounts.
I found that both these worked for me:

I am a content creator and put a great deal of original research and time and effort into my work and retain copyright for this. I object for it being used without payment.

These are my personal photos and information behind a private account that I do not want to be used publicly.

Although Meta warns, “We’ll review objection requests in accordance with relevant data protection laws. If your request is honored, it will be applied going forward”, I’ve not had a request turned down for the UK.

But that’s not it: Meta will send a code to your email associated with your account to complete the process – this comes through quickly, though.

 

 

How do I know if Meta won’t use my Facebook and Instagram photos and posts for its AI training?

The good news, you don’t have to wait for long. In all the times I used it, confirmation that my request had been approved came through within 20 minutes.

How to stop Facebook and Instagram using your posts for AI training: Meta email approving my request

How can I stop Meta using my data for AI training if I don’t live in the UK or EU?

PCWorld has reported on a potential solution: a Meta help center page where you can submit a request to access, delete, or file a complaint about personal information “from third parties being used to develop and improve AI at Meta”: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/510058597920541

How to stop Facebook and Instagram from seeing data shared by sites about your online activity 

But you may want to go further while you’re at it, and stop specific sites from sharing data with Meta about your online activity.
Mashable highlighted this page called ‘Off Facebook activity’ , where you can choose to disconnect specific sites that share data with Meta, clear previous activity, and manage future data sharing.
Off Facebook activity page to stop sites sharing information about you with Meta
It’s not clear how much this would stop this data being used for AI training, but Meta does state that “information shared on Meta’s Products and services” could be used.

 

Users are getting more protective about how their data is used

With generative AI needing ever more content to feed its development, and a rise in more privacy-aware users, I think we will see an increase in people becoming more selective about how they share their personal data, and especially their content.
It is good that Meta is being clear about giving users an opt-out to have their posts not used for gen AI training, as many sites may have not made their users aware before. But I’m not sure what the opt outs are for business pages.

 

 

TikTok ban ‘more about geopolitics than cyber security’ – ex-GCHQ cyber chief

There’s been lots said in the threat of a TikTok ban in by politicians in the US, but I found the expert thoughts of Ciaran Martin, the former GCHQ cyber chief and ex-head of the National Cyber Security Centre, fascinating and really insightful.

He told the BBC’s Media Show that:

“This is mostly an issue both about geopolitics, and influence and control over the Internet, than strictly speaking a cybersecurity issue”

Here’s part of Ciaran’s points he made to Katie Razzall – it’s worth checking out the full discussion on BBC Sounds

What are the cyber security concerns driving calls for a TikTok ban?

Ciaran Martin says there are two “classic cyber security issues” behind calls for a ban on TikTok: the compelled handing over of data under Chinese law and the download of potential Chinese state malware through apps.

But he points out that “the data economy is so out of control that the idea that you can ban your way to data security on a country of origin basis is essentially nonsense”, pointing out cyber issues with Russian criminals in the US healthcare system.

He adds that to stop the Chinese government getting your personal data requires more than just banning TikTok.
Ciaran does raise the points about China banning Facebook, and concerns over whether the algorithm could be manipulated to seed misinformation and disinformation about Western countries – but given how particular TikTok’s For You page is to each user, I’m not sure how possible this is in reality. I didn’t agree with Ciaran’s dismissal of the app as merely “a service to frivolous videos”, as it is having a far greater impact on culture, news and entertainment.

So these concerns, coupled with how Chinese tech companies have become closer to Beijing authorities, make sense why Western governments treat TikTok as a ‘risk’ to national security.

As for banning TikTok on government phones, I agree with Ciaran about not having any social media apps on them, given the amount of data they gather (more on that in a minute.)

Should I, my children, or my organisation be on TikTok?

The answers depend on who you are.

18 months ago, the director of GCHQ, Jeremy Fleming, said if personal data is used proportionally and “we’re happy with the way that data is safeguarded”, then it should present no problem for any user.

He said, “Make the most of it, make those videos, use TikTok, but just think before you do.” He reminded us that “there is no free good here” with any apps, especially social media, as they store personal data.

Asked if he would stop his child using TikTok, he said, “No I wouldn’t,” but he would “speak to my child about the way in which they think about their personal data on their device.”

Both the British and Irish regulators have fined Bytedance for how it didn’t stop under-13s being on the platform, didn’t set under-16s’ accounts to private when created and other data protection issues.

On their website, TikTok says Americans’ personal data is stored on US cloud servers run by software firm Oracle, while European data will soon be held in Dublin. It adds that user data “is protected by strong physical and logical security controls, including gated entry points, firewalls, and intrusion detection technologies.”

Ofcom: time spent per day on social media platforms, by age

For organisations, there are increasingly compelling reasons to be on there. If you’re targeting young adults, 18-24 year olds use it for an average of 55 minutes a day, according to Ofcom figures from last year, while the demographic of users is getting increasingly older. And another Ofcom study suggests as many as 1 in 10 of us use TikTok as a news source – more so than BBC Radio 1 and Channel 5.

And despite concerns about government departments having accounts, they have been happy to work with TikTok influencers to help reach target audiences in campaigns.

Will TikTok be banned?

We don’t know if a ban on TikTok will happen yet – there’s a long way to go. Even if the US President approves the decision, Bytedance has six months to sell its American arm. And the UK will likely follow what Washington does, rather than do their own thing.

Like using any social platform, you should be prepared that trends come and go, and any organisation’s social media or digital communications strategy shouldn’t be totally reliant on a social channel or service that you don’t own yourself.

The concerns over data gathered by Facebook and other Meta apps

Headline of Meta Facebook data story from the Times: Every scary thing Meta knows about me — and you Matilda Davies was given access to all of the data the social media behemoth has been collecting on her since she was 11. This is what she uncovered, and what we can all do to claw back some privacy

Ciaran seemed more concerned by the investigation by Times reporter Matilda Davies into the “horrifying level of detail” that Facebook have on her, including  20,000 interactions over two years with websites and apps that were not connected to her Meta-owned accounts:

In fact, between December 2021 and December 2023, Meta — the company that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — tracked me an average of 33 times a day from websites and apps that aren’t connected to my social media accounts. Even when I wasn’t looking at them, they were looking at me.

Like TikTok, Meta says it processes the data safely, but Matilda says they are “very opaque” on how it uses it.

Ciaran said it was “a really concerning story” and how we “need a really, really serious conversation about the data economy more generally, and one that’s more better informed than just saying ‘it’s all based on the country of origin of a particular service provider’.”

 

I really recommend listening to the BBC Media Show discussion on TikTok, Meta and Twitter – and following Ciaran Martin on Twitter/X 

If you want a chat about how your company could use TikTok, or issues raised in this article, get in touch.

Tread carefully with Meta’s Threads

There’s been a lot of hype and excitement about Meta’s Threads, especially from those disillusioned with Twitter, but I wouldn’t be rushing to ditch the tweets.

Despite a record number of sign-ups in a short period of time, and popular brands and Insta celebrities piling on with ‘banter’, pseudo-philosophical statements and inane questions, there still hasn’t been one big ‘moment’ on there that has been shared with the mainstream on Twitter, TV or other traditional media. Where’s the new Binley Mega Chippy? The Ed Balls moment? The major breaking news announced by a public figure or celebrity?

Or as Ryan Broderick shoutily, but accurately, described it:

I DO THINK IT’S PRETTY INTERESTING HOW THERE ARE 100 MILLION SUPPOSED USERS ON THE APP AND IT HAS YET TO GENERATE EVEN ONE INTERESTING STORY OR MEME!!!

Whether it was wise to rush a basic minimal viable product to market in the wake of the latest backlash against Elon Musk, with no playbook or training for key influencers, will soon be seen.

I wouldn’t be advising clients to rush into Threads – sure, set up an account, but spend time observing. Testing and learning is the key theme. Posting links to news stories and sharing the same memes as Twitter and Instagram are unlikely to work.

It’ll need to find its own grammar, ways of working and seeing success – but it needs to happen soon or users will get bored (which reminds me – I need to switch off the BeReal notification sound.) Even MrBeast hasn’t posted in 4 days.

I’ve been testing the platform out on different accounts: my personal one but with no Insta friends migrated over; a nostalgic wrestling-themed channel; and one that reviews alcohol-free beers. As the days progress, the home feed has got a lot better and intuitive, but I still get a thread from US viral publisher Pubity every three posts – on all accounts. Followers have built as Instagram connections find my accounts, but engagement remains low. It’s hard to find your friends and followers.

I’ve noticed after switching accounts that the home feed is a mess, with accounts linked to other profiles appearing in the feed (as well as Pubity repeatedly, of course) and recommendations as random as on Facebook (no, I’m not interested in Westlife fan pages). It’s not an enjoyable experience still.

Threads: example of post with Nikki Graeme

You can’t even post GIFs to see Nikki in full flow, sadly

Some people hark back to the glory days of London 2012 – Threads is a bit like going back to Twitter in 2012, but less user-friendly and reliable.

So what could work? With no native analytics tool, it’s trial and error based on likes and reposts. Focusing on common and relatable themes and interests could work, and it is what I’ll be testing for the foreseeable future.

But news and politics have a steep hill to climb, especially with seemingly little support from Meta. I checked on the Huw Edwards breaking story tonight, and it was very hard to see anything in my home feed about it.

ITV News' Paul Brand on Threads

I also feel turned off by link posts that just look the same as on Twitter. Native posting could work, but how does giving your content away for free generate revenue?

So I’m sticking to Twitter for now. I like my followers and occasionally dipping into the bizarro-world of the For You page. Until there is a greater shift of public figures, influencers and organisations off there, it will still be important and agenda-setting.

You may be interested in: Here’s what young people think of as ‘news’ on Instagram.