S Poddar
Celebrities victims of ‘Goodbye Meta AI’ scam
In a strange turn of events, more than 600,000 individuals-just to mention some of them James McAvoy, the actor; Tom Brady, the former NFL legend; Ashley Tisdale, the actress-have fallen victims to the hoax, claiming it will protect the current owner of Facebook and Instagram, Meta, from using their picture for AI training. Such numbers and celebrities were tricked into sharing a viral post on Instagram, believing it was an authentic post that would protect their intimate photos.
A note circulating rapidly on Instagram Stories said reposting the image would halt further uses of a user’s data by Meta for AI training. The reality is much easier to do: Facebook and Instagram users can simply stop their data from being used for AI training by stopping it directly within account settings. With a wide reach through social media postings, it does nothing to influence those privacy controls.
Lead Stories has labeled the post “false information”. Lead Stories is a third-party fact-checking partner trusted by Meta. These posts are now spreading far and wide, but Meta was quick to note that reposting them does absolutely nothing to impact privacy or stop data usage.
It is interesting to note that the viral nature of this hoax has been linked to an announcement made in June by Meta-that the company said it would be using publicly published posts to train its AI models. Once this was leaked, users began to send it into the world, so concerns among users have thereby created a channel through which misinformation spread fast. Still, Meta has assured the BBC that the viral message does not impact any user’s privacy or control of their personal data.
A Meta spokesperson later added: “Sharing this story doesn’t constitute a valid objection.”
The screenshot of the message, which went viral, reads:
“Goodbye Meta AI. Note that an attorney has instructed us to include this. Failure to post this will lead to serious legal consequences. Now that Meta is a publicly traded company, all users must post such a statement. You will lose your rights if you fail to update at least once that you are fine with them using your information and photos. I do not consent to Meta or anyone else who uses any of my personal data, profile information, or photos.”
Despite the scary words, this type of posting doesn’t prevent Meta from training its AI on public data. The message primarily spread through Instagram Stories and other forms of media. This post reached millions when various social media personalities unknowingly boosted its credibility by sharing it with their millions. As the message spread, it sowed widespread anxiety in the public about data privacy, which then fueled more reposts of this false message.
According to Lead Stories, the “Goodbye Meta AI” message started with a Facebook post dated 1 September, though its wording was a little different than that of the version of the message which started to spread more widely at the later date of the month. After large celebrity accounts picked up the post, this spread of the post gained rocket velocity, and by late September, the campaign had reached an explosion in popularity. Google Trends indicated that searches for the terms “Goodbye Meta AI” surged with the sudden jump in posts past 24 September.
This isn’t the first time that social media has seen a viral trend involving “copypasta,” or blocks of text frequently copied and pasted online. Snopes has documented a small number of similar incidents in the past ten years in which users have posted declarations of their privacy rights, misbelieving that this was actually going to have legal effect or prevent data from being collected. Of course these posts are legally irrelevant, because public declarations in this sense do not override the terms of the service for social media sites.
As viral hoaxes have become a common event, this situation is one of a kind. While there is a possibility for so many high-profile celebrities to fall prey to the misinformation, it is quite rare. Here, because the celebrities shared the post in such a high number that showed no legal merit and privacy impact.
Other social media companies too have faced public criticism. For example, LinkedIn only last week announced plans to use public data, and this report sparked massive outrage. LinkedIn then reversed its decision regarding the implementation of this policy in the United Kingdom. That shows just how contentious the issue of AI data training has become.
Ultimately, although users have rightful concerns over the use of their data, hoaxes such as “Goodbye Meta AI” point towards verifying information before posting it online. Misinformation can cause misunderstandings and false hopes that one can control digital privacy. Any person concerned with how data is used is better off referring to the settings on each platform and information from reliable sources.
