Meta to Use European User Data for AI Training

Meta announced on Monday, April 14, 2025, that it will resume using publicly available content from European users to train its AI models. This decision follows a pause last year due to data privacy concerns raised by activists.

The company, which owns Facebook and Instagram, will train its AI using public posts and comments shared by adult users within the 27-nation European Union. Interactions with Meta AI will also be used to improve the models. Meta will not use private messages or data from users under 18 for training purposes.

Meta will notify EU users about the training and provide a form to object. The company states that it is following the example of Google and OpenAI, both of which already use European data for AI training. Meta also highlights that it will honor all objection forms submitted by users.

The company launched Meta AI in the EU in March 2025 and aims to make its chat function freely available across Europe within its messaging apps, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Meta believes that training its AI models on data from EU users will enable the AI to better understand European cultures, languages, and history.