No, Meta is not going to use your DMs to train AI
Every so often there are posts that do the rounds on social media that suggest terrible policy changes are coming. This is happening again, with a message claiming that Meta is going to start using the content of private DMs to train AI.
The unfounded claims are being tied to a Privacy Policy update which is due to come into force on December 16. While it is certainly true that Meta’s new policy kicks in in a couple of weeks, there are falsities being attached to it in scaremongering posts that have gone semi-viral.
Meta’s real announcement about upcoming changes came at the beginning of October, and it can be read in full here. While there are plenty of references to AI in this post, it has nothing to do with direct messaging.
But this has not stopped the spread of false claims in messages on different platforms. The message has appeared on Instagram as well as Threads, gathering over 100,000 likes. The message reads:
Meta will start reading your DMs on December 16. Every conversion. Every photo. Every voice message. Fed into AI. Used for profit. Here’s how to stop it.
Debunking site Snopes spoke with Meta and received the following statement about the matter:
The update mentioned in the viral rumor isn't about DMs at all, it's about how we'll use people's interactions with our AI features to further personalize their experience. We do not use the content of your private messages with friends and family to train our AIs unless you or someone in the chat chooses to share those messages with our AIs. This also isn't new, nor is it part of this Dec. 16 privacy policy update.
The spread of the rumor has been such because of the distrust people have in social media companies such as Meta, as well as a lack of information and clarity about various things. While more seasoned users will be able to successfully identify the scaremongering message as just that, the spread of the message as it was forwarded by people shows that this is certainly not the case for everyone.
While it is near impossible to stop things like this going viral, it is a little disturbing – and disappointing – that it has taken Snopes reaching out to Meta for there to be a statement made about it.
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