Latest news with #Schrems
Euronews
17-06-2025
- Business
- Euronews
WhatsApp will get ads. That might cause backlash in Europe
WhatsApp said that users will start seeing adverts in parts of the app, as owner Meta Platforms moves to cultivate a new revenue stream by tapping the billions of people who use the messaging service. Advertisements will be shown only in the app's Updates tab, which is used by as many as 1.5 billion people each day. However, they will not appear where personal chats are located, developers said. 'The personal messaging experience on WhatsApp isn't changing, and personal messages, calls and statuses are end-to-end encrypted and cannot be used to show ads,' WhatsApp said in a blog post on Monday. It is a big change for the company, whose founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton vowed to keep the platform free of ads when they created it in 2009. Facebook purchased WhatsApp in 2014 and the pair left a few years later. Parent company Meta Platforms Inc. has long been trying to generate revenue from WhatsApp. WhatsApp said ads will be targeted to users based on information like their age, the country or city where they're located, the language they're using, the channels they're following in the app, and how they're interacting with the ads they see. WhatsApp said it will not use personal messages, calls and groups that a user is a member of to target ads to the user. The European Commission signalled last year that the move fails to comply with its Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The European Centre for Digital Rights (noyb), led by privacy activist Max Schrems said that Meta's 'Pay or Okay' approach effectively forces users to choose between privacy and affordability. "Meta is doing exactly the opposite of what EU law requires," Schrems said in a statement. "The data of its various platforms gets linked, and users are tracked for advertising without any genuine choice. Without freely given consent, linking data and showing personalised advertising is clearly illegal," he added. Noyb said it would examine Meta's actions and "initiate procedures against the company "if necessary". The details depend on Meta's practical implementation and therefore cannot yet be assessed conclusively. Schrems said he expected a WhatsApp exodus to the messaging app Signal. 'Signal works just as well as WhatsApp, but is non-profit and donation-funded," he said. WhatsApp unveiled three advertising features on Monday as it tries to monetise the app's user base. Channels will also be able to charge users a monthly fee for subscriptions so they can get exclusive updates. Business owners will also be able to pay to promote their channel's visibility to new users. Most of Meta's revenue comes from ads. In 2025, the Menlo Park, California-based company's revenue totalled $164.5 billion (€142 billion) and $160.6 billion (€138 billion) of it came from advertising. Even though Europe is still lagging in the deployment of standalone 5G networks, the bloc is slowly catching up with other regions in the world, a European Commission report on connectivity targets published Monday suggested. The so-called Digital Decade report said that targets to have all EU households connected to 5G by 2030 - presented by the Commission in 2021 - ware likely to be met. 'The percentage of households covered by 5G (all spectrum bands) rose by 5.3 percentage points, from 89.0% in 2023 to 94.3% in 2024. This represents a year-on-year increase of 6.0%. According to the forecast along the baseline trajectory, 100% of the target is expected to be achieved already by 2027,' the report said. When it comes to rural areas, just under 80% were reached by 5G coverage, up from 71% in 2023. Korea leads with 100% coverage, followed by Japan (99.2%) and Norway (99.0%). The US (97.0%), India and China (all 95%) also exceed or match the EU's coverage rate. 5G connections are deemed necessary as the use of internet connected devices, industrial appliances and data volumes increase. The report – which also looked at digital skills, cloud and AI uptake -- said that overall, the EU made 'steady progress' in 2024 in digitalising key public services, but a substantial portion of governmental digital infrastructure continues to depend on service providers from outside the EU. 'The data shows persisting challenges, such as fragmented markets, overly complex regulations, security and strategic dependence. Further public and private investment and easier access to venture capital for EU companies would accelerate innovation and scale up,' the report said. In December, the Commission is set to present its Digital Networks Act (DNA), an overhaul of the bloc's telecom rules to address connectivity issues. A consultation on the DNA is currently open. In a response to Monday's report, Alessandro Gropelli, director general of telecom association Connect Europe, said a 'deep reform of Europe's connectivity policies is required.' 'We support an ambitious Digital Networks Act inspired by the Draghi Report: in the 21st century, there is no competitiveness without strong connectivity companies,' he added. Laszlo Toth, head of Europe at mobile network operators' trade association GSMA, said the report was encouraging but cautioned against complacency. "Getting a basic level of 5G coverage across Europe is one thing but actually providing people with the level of connectivity they need remains a huge challenge under current regulatory circumstances. We need the Commission to continue to look to the future in the upcoming DNA and merger reviews and promote a simplified and pro-investment environment where our digital ecosystem can truly thrive," said Toth. The 27 EU member states will now discuss the Commission's report and discuss the way forward. Next year, the EU executive will review the targets and whether they still reflect the evolving demand of the EU's priorities.
Time of India
15-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Meta faces row over plan to use European data for AI
A Vienna-based privacy campaign group said Wednesday it has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Meta, after the tech giant announced plans to train its artificial intelligence models with European users' personal move comes after Meta said last month it would push ahead with plans to use personal data from European users of its Instagram and Facebook platforms for AI technology training from May 27, despite criticism over its legality. Meta has been hit with multiple privacy complaints in Europe, but cited a "legitimate interest" to process personal data for AI training. The privacy group, the European Center for Digital Rights -- also known as Noyb ("None of Your Business") -- threatened to file an injunction or class-action lawsuit against Meta if it does not halt plans. "Meta's absurd claims that stealing everyone's (personal) data is necessary for AI training is laughable," Noyb founder Max Schrems said in a statement. "Other AI providers do not use social network data -- and generate even better models than Meta," he added. When Meta AI first launched in the European Union in late March, the tech giant was at pains to point out that the chatbot was not trained on data from European users. Its rollout on the continent was delayed by more than a year as a result of overlapping European regulations on emerging technologies, including user data, AI and digital markets. Following the complaints, Meta temporarily put its AI plans on hold in June 2024, before recently announcing it would go ahead with them. "It is... totally absurd to argue that Meta needs the personal data of everyone that uses Facebook or Instagram in the past 20 years to train AI," Schrems said, adding the plans were "neither legal nor necessary". "Meta simply says that (its) interest in making money is more important than the rights of its users," he said, adding that users could simply be asked for their consent. With about 400 million estimated Meta users in Europe, the approval of 10 percent of them would "already clearly be sufficient" for AI language training and the like, Schrems said. Launched in 2018, Noyb has taken several court proceedings against technology giants, often prompting action from regulatory authorities.
Forbes
15-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Meta Accused Of Still Flouting Privacy Rules With AI Training Data
Meta's efforts to placate Europe over the use of personal data to train AI models hasn't worked, with privacy advocacy group noyb launching another challenge. After pausing AI training in the EE and European Economic Area last June, Meta last month announced plans to resume, using public posts and comments shared by adults and users' interactions with Meta AI. It had paused the training after concerns were expressed by the Irish Data Protection Commission and complaints filed with data protection authorities across the region. At the end of the year, the European Data Protection Board issued an opinion which, said Meta, meant it was complying with the law. "Last year, we delayed training our large language models using public content while regulators clarified legal requirements", the company said. "We welcome the opinion provided by the EDPB in December, which affirmed that our original approach met our legal obligations." However, nyob begs to disagree. "As far as we have heard, Meta has 'engaged' with the authorities, but this hasn't led to any 'green light'," said nyob chair Max Schrems. "It seems that Meta is simply moving ahead and ignores EU Data Protection Authorities." Nyob has now sent the firm a cease and desist letter, threatening a European class action as a next step. The company's claim that 'legitimate interest' allows it to use user data without explicit opt-in consent doesn't hold water, it said. "The European Court of Justice has already held that Meta cannot claim a 'legitimate interest' in targeting users with advertising. How should it have a 'legitimate interest' to suck up all data for AI training?" said Schrems. "While the 'legitimate interest' assessment is always a multi-factor test, all factors seem to point in the wrong direction for Meta. Meta simply says that its interest in making money is more important than the rights of its users." Nyob also claims that Meta may also be unable to comply with other GDPR rights such as the right to be forgotten, the right to have incorrect data rectified or users' rights to access to their data in an AI system. On top of this, it says, because Meta provides AI model as open-source software for anyone to download and use, it can't recall or update a model once it's published. Noyb compares Meta's practices over data collection for AI with its collection of user data to serve advertisements. On this, after a series of GDPR lawsuits, the company finally agreed in 2023 to give up on the legitimate interests argument, and require specific opt-in instead. "This fight is essentially about whether to ask people for consent or simply take their data without it. Meta starts a huge fight just to have an opt-out system instead of an opt-in system. Instead, they rely on an alleged 'legitimate interest' to just take the data and run with it," said Schrems. "This is neither legal nor necessary. Meta's absurd claims that stealing everyone's person data is necessary for AI training is laughable. Other AI providers do not use social network data—and generate even better models than Meta." Meta has been approached for comment.
The Star
15-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
Meta faces row over plan to use European data for AI
A filepic of Schrems. He said in a statement that 'Meta's absurd claims that stealing everyone's (personal) data is necessary for AI training is laughable'. — Reuters VIENNA: A Vienna-based privacy campaign group said on May 14 it has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Meta, after the tech giant announced plans to train its artificial intelligence models with European users' personal data. The move comes after Meta said last month it would push ahead with plans to use personal data from European users of its Instagram and Facebook platforms for AI technology training from May 27, despite criticism over its legality. Meta has been hit with multiple privacy complaints in Europe, but cited a "legitimate interest" to process personal data for AI training. The privacy group, the European Center for Digital Rights – also known as Noyb ("None of Your Business") – threatened to file an injunction or class-action lawsuit against Meta if it does not halt plans. "Meta's absurd claims that stealing everyone's (personal) data is necessary for AI training is laughable," Noyb founder Max Schrems said in a statement. "Other AI providers do not use social network data – and generate even better models than Meta," he added. When Meta AI first launched in the European Union in late March, the tech giant was at pains to point out that the chatbot was not trained on data from European users. Its rollout on the continent was delayed by more than a year as a result of overlapping European regulations on emerging technologies, including user data, AI and digital markets. Following the complaints, Meta temporarily put its AI plans on hold in June 2024, before recently announcing it would go ahead with them. "It is... totally absurd to argue that Meta needs the personal data of everyone that uses Facebook or Instagram in the past 20 years to train AI," Schrems said, adding the plans were "neither legal nor necessary". "Meta simply says that (its) interest in making money is more important than the rights of its users," he said, adding that users could simply be asked for their consent. With about 400 million estimated Meta users in Europe, the approval of 10 percent of them would "already clearly be sufficient" for AI language training and the like, Schrems said. Launched in 2018, Noyb has taken several court proceedings against technology giants, often prompting action from regulatory authorities. – AFP
The Hindu
15-05-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Meta threatened with injunction over data-use for AI training
Austrian advocacy group NOYB will seek an injunction against Meta Platforms, it said on Wednesday, that could lead to substantial claims if the tech giant goes ahead with plans to use Europeans' personal data to train its AI models. NOYB, or none of your business, led by privacy activist Max Schrems, said it had sent a cease and desist letter on Wednesday to Meta, which plans to start using personal data from European users of Instagram and Facebook from May 27. Meta has cited legitimate interest under EU privacy rules for using users' data to train and develop its generative AI models and other AI tools that can be shared with third parties. The U.S. tech giant said last month users would receive a link to a form that allows them to object to their data being used for training purposes and that private messages and public data from accounts of users under the age of 18 will not be used. Schrems criticised Meta's rationale. "The European Court of Justice has already held that Meta cannot claim a 'legitimate interest' in targeting users with advertising. How should it have a 'legitimate interest' to suck up all data for AI training?" he said in a statement. "We are currently evaluating our options to file injunctions, but there is also the option for a subsequent class action for non-material damages. If you think about the more than 400 million European Meta users who could all demand damages of just 500 euros or so, you can do the math," Schrems said. NOYB said an injunction could be filed under the EU Collective Redress, which enables consumers to pursue collective lawsuits against companies in the bloc. It set a May 21 deadline for Meta to respond. Meta rejected NOYB's arguments, saying its approach complies with guidance from the European Data Protection Board and follows discussions with the Irish privacy enforcer. "NOYB's arguments are wrong on the facts and the law," a Meta spokesperson said. "We've provided EU users with a clear way to object to their data being used for training AI at Meta, notifying them via email and in-app notifications that they can object at any time." NOYB, which last year urged EU privacy enforcers to act, said Meta could give users an option to opt-in rather than opt-out and also provide clear conditions for AI training, such as using anonymised user data, in line with EU privacy rules.
