Brazil banned Meta from using Brazilian citizens’ posts on Instagram and Facebook to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models.
On Tuesday, the Brazilian National Data Protection Agency (ANPD) announced the immediate suspension of Meta’s latest privacy policy. This policy would have allowed the tech giant to use data from user messages to train generative AI models, including chatbots. Meta expressed its disappointment with the decision, stating that its approach was in line with local privacy legislation.
“This is a setback for innovation, competition in AI development and further delays the benefits of AI for people in Brazil,” a Meta spokesperson told the BBC.
The importance of this decision is underscored by Meta’s substantial user base in Brazil, where 102 million people use Facebook and more than 113 million use Instagram. The ANPD justified the action to avoid the “occurrence of serious and irreparable damage or difficult repair for holders of personal data”.
The Goal, according to dispatchhas a period of five working days to change its privacy policy and exclude the use of personal information from public posts for AI training, under penalty of a daily fine of 50 thousand reais (8,330 euros at the current exchange rate ).
This policy change has also been a controversial issue in Europe. Meta intended to start using public publications, images, captions, comments and stories from users to “develop and improve” their AI products, starting June 26th. However, following a request from the Irish Data Protection Commission, representing other interested European parties, Meta postponed these plans.
Furthermore, the ANPD found that the process for Brazilian users to prevent Meta from using their personal information was significantly more complicated than in Europe. While European users have relatively simple methods to opt out, Brazilian users face a complicated process that can involve up to eight steps.
