What if a company started using your Instagram photos, Facebook posts, and chats to train its AI — without offering you anything in return? Well, that’s what Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is doing right now. And while the company claims you can opt out, users are saying the opt-out tool isn’t working at all.
Nate Hake, a travel publisher and founder of Travel Lemming, shared his experience on social media. He received an email from Meta, informing him that his content could be used to train AI models. The message included a link to a form where he could object to this. But when he tried it, it didn’t work. And he’s not alone. Many other users have reported the same problem.
What’s worse is that even when Hake contacted Meta directly, they told him they "cannot take further action" on his request. This, despite the company recently promising that it would honor any user objections about AI using their content.
Meta has actually been using public Instagram and Facebook content to train its AI systems for years. In 2018, back when the company was still called Facebook, it openly said it was using millions of Instagram photos for AI training. Now, in 2025, with AI being an even bigger deal, Meta seems to be doubling down.
Last year, after facing legal pressure in Europe, Meta paused its AI data collection from EU users. But just a few months later, it announced it would start collecting content like photos, videos, comments, and even chats with its AI assistant from users in the EU and the UK.
Meta says this is standard practice, claiming companies like Google and OpenAI already do it. It also promised to notify users about these changes and give them a simple way to opt out.
But as users like Hake have pointed out — if the opt-out tool doesn’t work, what’s the point of having it? Many are now accusing Meta of ignoring user rights and making promises it isn’t keeping.
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