As part of the growing controversies surrounding the company Mark Zuckerberg, significant new developments emerge. After the recent ones speculations regarding the integration of AI cameras in the earphones, Half is now facing a postponement imposed by theIrish Data Protection Commission (DPC).
Meta and its AI project in Europe: everything suspended
The June 14, 2024through an update published on the official Meta blog, it was made known that the DPC asked the company to suspend training of hers large language models (LLM) with public content shared by adult users on Facebook and Instagram. This request represents a serious blow to Halfwho declared herself “disappointed” from the decision, underlining that he had already informed European data protection authorities in March 2024.
Meta has criticized the decision of the Irish Data Protection Commission defining it as “step back for European innovation and competition in the development of AI”, underlining that such postponement will further delay i benefits of artificial intelligence for people in Europe. The company reiterated its commitment to supporting an “approach compliant with European laws and regulations”.
This Suspension temporarily puts in standby the project of Meta AI in Europeawaiting further developments, including those related to the requests of theInformation Commissioner’s Office of the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, we recall that in May 2024, Half had sent a communication by email to users of its social networks, including Italian ones, announcing theupdate of its Privacy Policy in view of the expansion of AI. The email contained a link called “right of opposition“, useful for those who want to avoid having their data used for LLM training. After clicking on the link, users are asked to fill out a form, which may require repeated entry of security codes.
The EU is on the side of citizens and not companies
The planned changes were to come into force on June 26, 2024but now, because of the Suspension decided by the DPC, in Europe everything is postponed on a date to be determined.
In parallel, Half was recently hit by one millionaire fine inflicted byItalian antitrust. The AGCM accused Facebook of two deceptive business practices regarding the creation and management of accounts on the social networks Facebook and Instagram. This represents a further headache for the company, already under pressure over issues related to data protection and AI regulation in Europe.
