Brazil blocks Meta from using social media posts to train AI

Brazil has taken a significant step by blocking Meta from using posts on Instagram and Facebook from Brazilian users to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models. This decision follows Meta's earlier move to abandon similar plans in the UK and Europe. On Tuesday, Brazil's national data protection agency (ANPD) announced the immediate suspension of Meta's latest privacy policy, which would have allowed the company to use posts from its users to train generative AI models such as chatbots. A Meta spokesperson expressed disappointment with the decision, stating that their approach complied with local privacy laws. 'This is a step backwards for innovation, competition in AI development, and further delays bringing the benefits of AI to people in Brazil,' the company added. Meta has a substantial presence in Brazil, with 102 million Facebook users and over 113 million Instagram users. The ANPD justified its action by citing the 'imminent risk of serious and irreparable damage, or difficulty repairing fundamental rights of the affected account holders. ' Meta has been given five working days to demonstrate that it has amended its privacy policy to exclude the use of personal information found in public posts for training generative AI. Failure to comply will result in a daily fine of R$50,000. The company's updated policy had also come under scrutiny in the UK and the European Union (EU). Under the proposed changes, which were set to take effect on 26 June, Meta would use users' information to 'develop and improve' its AI products. In Europe, this policy would encompass posts, images, image captions, comments, and Stories shared with a public audience on Facebook and Instagram, but not private messages. However, this plan was halted after Meta received a request from the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) on behalf of other European stakeholders to delay its training of large language models (LLMs). LLMs are a type of AI that powers chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini. On 14 June, when it announced the delay, Meta described it as a 'step backwards' for AI in Europe. Despite this, Meta decided to proceed with the policy change in Brazil. Pedro Martins, from Data Privacy Brasil, welcomed the ANPD's decision. He told the BBC that there was a discrepancy between Meta's data protection measures for its Brazilian and European users. Meta had planned to use posts from Brazilian children and teenagers to train its AI models, he said, while in Europe, no one under 18 would have their posts used. Brazil's data protection regulator also found that personal data from children and teenagers' posts could be collected and used to train Meta's AI systems, potentially violating the country's data protection law. Additionally, Mr Martins noted that in Europe, the steps users can take to prevent Meta from using personal information are more straightforward than in Brazil, where it can take up to eight steps for users to block the company from using their posts. The BBC has reached out to Meta for a response to the claim that it had planned to use posts from Brazilian children and teenagers to train its AI models and whether it imposed more onerous steps for opting out on users in Brazil.