Would Posting ‘Goodbye Meta AI’ Prohibit Meta From Using Personal Info? No!

There is no evidence to prove that the post would disable Meta from using public posts to train AI models.

Fact-Check | This note titled 'Goodbye Meta AI' that is going viral is a hoax.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A post is doing the rounds on the internet claiming that posting a statement titled "Goodbye Meta AI" will prohibit Meta from using people's personal data and other information.

What does the statement say?: The entire text read as, "Goodbye Meta Al. Please note an attorney has advised us to put this on, failure to do so may result in legal consequences. As Meta is now a public entity all members must post a similar statement. If you do not post at least once it will be assumed you are okay with them using your information and photos. I do not give Meta or anyone else permission to use any of my personal data, profile information or photos."

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: Instagram/Screenshot)

(More archives of similar claims can be found here, here, and here.)

What are the facts?: There is no evidence to prove that posting such a message would disable Meta from using public posts to train its AI models.

No news reports: On performing a keyword search on Google, we did not come across any credible news reports or information available in the public domain that backed the viral claim.

• On the contrary, we found several reports that said this 'Goodbye Meta AI' is actually a hoax and thousands of people have fallen for the same.

The report was published on 26 September 2024.

(Source: Times of India/Screenshot)

Meta AI policies: We searched on Google using the words "Meta AI training policy" and came across a Facebook page titled, 'How Meta uses information for generative AI models and features'.

• Under a section, it said that the company uses information that is 'publicly available online and licensed information'.

• It mentioned that Meta doesn't use content from private messages to train its AI models.

• However, it added that collection public information may include personal information. For example - If a public blog post is collected, then it might include the name of the author and contact information.

This page could be seen under 'Privacy Center'.

(Source: Meta/Screenshot)

• At the bottom, we found that there was a link available to a support page that talked about 'Data Subject Rights for Third Party Information Used for AI at Meta'.

• There were three options that a user could choose from, which included deleting any personal information and getting access to the same.

The 'data subject rights' page gives three options to the user.

(Source: Meta/Screenshot)

A Meta spokesperson told British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that, "Sharing this story does not count as a valid form of objection."

Previous fact-checks on Meta: The Quint had previously fact-checked a similar post, when it was shared claiming that posting the statement would forbid Meta to use people's posts to train their AI models.

The report was published on 8 June.

(Source: The Quint/Screenshot)

Conclusion: It is evident that the viral statement titled "Goodbye Meta AI" is a hoax.

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