Hundreds of thousands of users across all of Meta’s platforms are posting the same statement about wanting to protect their social media profiles from being used by the company and AI. But the reality is that this message doesn’t actually mean anything or protect anyone.

“Goodbye Meta AI,” the message begins. “Since Meta is now a public entity, all members must post a similar statement. If you do not post at least once, it will be assumed that you are okay with them using your information and photos. I do not give Meta or anyone else permission to use my personal information, profile information, or photos.”

The “copypasta” — a term used to describe a piece of text that has been copied and pasted from anywhere on the internet — appears to have started in early September. This isn’t the first time an inaccurate privacy copypasta has circulated on Meta, either. Back in May, people shared a post with similar wording that read, “I hereby declare that I do not give permission to use my personal information or photos.”

Meta did not immediately respond to Yahoo News’ request for comment. The posts are now being marked as “false information” on Instagram Stories.

Can Meta use public posts from Instagram and Facebook to train AI?

Yes, Meta can use your public posts and photos to train its AI.

According to a September 2023 press release, users who agree to Meta’s terms of service will allow the company to use “publicly shared posts from Instagram and Facebook — including photos and text” to train its AI models. These posts do not include posts that are private, including direct messages with friends.

Users also cannot retroactively ignore or opt out of the privacy or copyright terms they agree to when registering for their accounts. Meta is a publicly traded company and also has no influence over the privacy rights of users as set out in the Terms and Conditions.

Online privacy laws are not as strict in the United States, so Meta was allowed to scrape public posts for AI training without giving users any notice or warning. In Europe, however, where regulations are much stricter, users were given advance notice and the opportunity to opt out of the privacy policy, allowing Meta to use years of public posts and images to train its AI.

However, messages that users exchange with Meta’s AI chatbot are retained and used in training generative AI.

Is this legal?

Facebook’s legal terms state, “When you share a photo on Facebook, you give us permission to store, copy, and share it with others.” Users agree to these terms when they create an account on Facebook or Instagram.

There is no available way for US users to stop Meta from scraping public posts. The only option is for users to make their accounts private, as Meta only scrapes from publicly available posts.