ICO response to ORG complaint against Meta and AI – 25 September 2024

Dear Pam Cowburn,

Thank you for your letter of 15 July to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) raising Open Rights Group’s (ORG) concerns about Meta’s proposed use of UK users’ personal information for training generative artificial intelligence (AI). We have taken note of this complaint to inform our work in this area.

The ICO has been engaging with Meta in relation to its processing of UK Facebook and Instagram user data for these purposes, including on the areas of concern raised in your letter. As you might be aware, in June 2024 Meta paused its plans to use Facebook and Instagram user data to train generative AI. This was in response to a request from the ICO. Following this, Meta made changes to its approach, such as by making it simpler for users to object to the processing.

As you will be aware, Meta has recently announced its decision to commence its processing of UK Facebook and Instagram users’ (aged 18 and over) personal information to train their generative AI. The ICO has not provided regulatory approval for the processing, and it is for Meta to ensure and demonstrate ongoing compliance. You can find our published statement on this matter here. This webpage also contains a link to Meta’s statement.

Given the previous changes made by Meta in response to our request, we are confident in our ongoing regulatory approach to tackling the issues that ORG have raised about this processing. We appreciate your interest in this matter and would be happy to meet to discuss your concerns and our engagement with Meta in more detail if that would be helpful.

If you have any questions or further comments, please do get in touch.
The best contact point for you to use is PGAParliament@ico.org.uk.

Kind regards,
Oliver O’Callaghan
Head of Public Affairs