Film stars and sportspeople among those to share hoax ‘Goodbye Meta AI’ post

The post claims sharing it will prevent Meta from using a person’s profile data to train AI models, but users must do this through their app settings.

Martyn Landi
Wednesday 25 September 2024 14:38 BST
Many of the images from high-profile figures have already been partially hidden and labelled as false information by Instagram (PA)
Many of the images from high-profile figures have already been partially hidden and labelled as false information by Instagram (PA) (PA Archive)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Celebrities and sports stars are among the around 600,000 people who have reposted a hoax image which claims to deny Meta the right to use their data to train artificial intelligence (AI) models.

Actors Julianne Moore and Ashley Tisdale, as well as England cricketer Jonny Bairstow have reshared the post on Instagram Stories, entitled “Goodbye Meta AI”.

The message claims that by sharing the post on their profile, the Facebook and Instagram owner will no longer be able to use their data to train AI.

However, this is not the case – sharing a post on an Instagram story does not count as a valid form of objection to Meta’s data policies – and instead users can opt-out of AI training through their account settings.

“Goodbye Meta AI. Please note an attorney has advised us to put this on, failure to do so may result in legal consequences,” the message reads.

“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.”

Many of the images from high-profile figures have already been partially hidden and labelled as false information by Instagram.

The sudden rise in sharing of the post appears to be in response to Meta’s announcement in the summer that it would use public posts to its social media platforms to help train the AI models it is developing.

Earlier this month, Meta confirmed it would begin using data from public posts of users in the UK to train its AI, but confirmed it would honour the objection of any user who had already submitted one via their account settings, and confirmed it would continue to allow users to opt-in in this way.

To object via Facebook, users can go to their settings, select Privacy Centre and then select the AI at Meta option and selecting the “information that you’ve shared on Meta products and services” option under the subheading “Submit an objection request”.

Similarly, Instagram users can access the Privacy Centre to submit an objection in the same way by going to Settings then scrolling down and selecting Privacy Centre.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in