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What's behind the viral 'Goodbye Meta AI' message that's being shared on Instagram?

Many people, including some celebrities, have fallen for the hoax.

IF YOU’VE BEEN on Instagram lately, you have likely seen people posting an image containing text that claims to block the social media app’s parent company Meta from using their data to train its generative AI tools. 

People have been sharing the image in the hope that Meta will not use data from their accounts to train its AI applications. 

But the image is now often accompanied by a note that reads “False information”, telling Instagram users that posting it does no such thing, and linking to an article debunking it. 

Many people, including celebrities like actors James McEvoy and Julianne Moore as well as former NFL player Tom Brady, have fallen for the hoax and posted the same message that begins: “Goodbye Meta AI.” 

The image containing the text has been shared hundreds of thousands of times. 

Goodbye Meta AI The viral image being shared on Instagram

The text goes on to say:

“Please note an attorney has advised us to put this on, failure to do so may result in legal consequences. As 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 you are okay with them using your information and photos. I do not give Meta or anyone else permission to use any of my personal data, profile information or photos.”

Instagram false info The message that appears on the viral image

Meta announced its move into generative AI, which is the technology behind image and text generating applications like Dall-E and CaptGPT, in September last year. 

ChatGPT is a large language model chatbot created by OpenAI that can generate text when prompted. For example, users can ask it to write summaries on various topics or even poems in the style of famous authors. Dall-E, similarly, is an image generating application that creates pictures based on users’ prompts. 

According to Meta, publicly shared posts from Instagram and Facebook – including photos and text – “were part of the data used to train its generative AI models”. 

“We didn’t train these models using people’s private posts. We also do not use the content of your private messages with friends and family to train our AIs,” the company said. 

Instagram users in the EU were informed earlier this year that their data would be used to train Meta’s AI products and were given the chance to opt out. 

Meta has come up against EU regulations in trying to train its applications using Instagram and Facebook data from adults in Europe though. 

In June, Meta said it was “disappointed” by a request from the Irish Data Protection Commission to delay training its large language models.

The EU has particularly strict and advanced rules governing privacy in the tech sector, but elsewhere in the world users were not notified about Meta’s intention to use their data for AI training. 

Irish users can opt out by going to ‘Privacy Centre’ in settings on Instagram. 

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14 Comments
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    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute chris
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    Aug 7th 2014, 8:49 AM

    They should be hung drawn and quartered for making me use that pesky messenger app!

    88
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alan McNamara
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    Aug 7th 2014, 9:07 AM

    Did you read the terms for having that messenger app.

    http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4365645

    50
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    Mute Niall Mullins
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    Aug 7th 2014, 9:10 AM

    Aw, you ok hun?

    19
    See 6 more replies ▾
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    Mute Colin Howell
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    Aug 7th 2014, 9:15 AM

    @Alan, after checking out your link I feel great having always declined facebook’s incessant offer of the messenger app. That is some scary schizz. I certainly would have blindly accepted the terms and conditions

    39
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    Mute chris
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    Aug 7th 2014, 9:38 AM

    Thx for posting that
    How is it even legal what they are
    Doing..deleted.

    27
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    Mute Alan McNamara
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    Aug 7th 2014, 9:52 AM

    The way I see it, if people want me they can text me or call and I can pick up my Facebook message on the laptop

    15
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    Mute Richard Sweeney
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    Aug 7th 2014, 10:07 AM

    If you read t+c’s of the journal the app can view and delete contents on your sd card. Why?

    28
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    Mute Ciara McCorley
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    Aug 7th 2014, 10:11 AM

    Thanks for that link Alan, have just deleted it from my phone!

    6
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    Mute Denis
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    Aug 7th 2014, 11:03 AM

    After looking at Alans’s link I thought what a load of old nonsense.
    The author is clearly pretty clueless about app permissions on android.
    Why don’t you check the permissions of any other messaging app you have on android, they all have pretty much the same.
    This is just the standard android permissions written to be as scary as possible.
    Check out google hangouts now standard on android, not only does it have all these permissions but it can access your location at any time and read and edit your calendar at any time Gasp!
    Just more ant-facebook ain’t I cool hipster nonsense.

    7
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    Mute DamoDeMan
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    Aug 7th 2014, 9:17 AM

    If you are worried about Facebook and your privacy
    Do not be on Facebook
    sticking your ass in the air
    like you just don’t care

    47
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    Mute Negativebird
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    Aug 7th 2014, 11:08 AM

    You fine sir,deserve a medal

    5
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    Mute bob®
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    Aug 7th 2014, 8:47 AM

    Like

    32
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    Mute Pinel G
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    Aug 7th 2014, 10:32 AM

    Facebook is worth about $200 billion all thanks to the data you give them. they profit from data on users.

    17
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    Mute Foxtrot Hotel
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    Aug 7th 2014, 9:00 AM

    Are people “liking” this as a joke?

    9
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    Mute duisigheire
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    Aug 7th 2014, 11:20 AM

    watch “terms and conditions apply” on Netflix. It will open your eyes.

    6
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    Mute Paudi Onail
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    Aug 7th 2014, 2:14 PM

    seen it, recommend everyone sees it, though it confirmed what i’ve always known. planned obsolescence docu is another interesting one.

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    Mute Jamie Condren
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    Aug 7th 2014, 10:30 AM

    In those T&Cs posted by the Huffington post, what is meant by a malicious app may do this without your permission? Is it talking about the messenger app or what?

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    Mute Denis
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    Aug 7th 2014, 11:20 AM

    No it’s not talking about the facebook app.
    They are standard permissions that any app can ask for.
    If you install some dodgy app from somewhere and it asks for those permissions it can do dodgy things and record audio and video all the time.
    The facebook app asks to record audio and take pictures so it can support its voice message and picture and video sending abilities.

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    Mute duisigheire
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    Aug 7th 2014, 11:27 AM

    Also, android users check this out….. Open google (assuming your signed in) click account > account history > places you’ve been.

    You can select each date and it will show you exactly where you were etc. Why….? well each time you enable location for maps apps etc…. in the settings menu > Location > On… you will see the message below flash up. Agree or disagree….. always disagree.

    Location Consent !
    Allow googles location service to collect anonymous location data. Some data may be stored on your device. Collection may occur even when no apps are running.

    4
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    Mute Luke
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    Aug 7th 2014, 11:04 AM

    these people are delusional if they think they’re gonna get any $ of that sociopath Zuckerberg

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    Mute J. Dunn
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    Aug 7th 2014, 9:13 AM

    You’d think Facebook would have registered fbclaim.com along with 20,000 intelligible variations for just such an occasion.

    4
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