German DPA orders Meta to halt AI training with EU user data

The Verbraucherzentrale North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), a regional data protection authority (DPA) in Germany, has officially requested Meta to stop its artificial intelligence (AI) training plans in the European Union.

In April, Meta announced it would begin training its AI models with data from European users. Their public messages, posts, and comments on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger will serve as training material.

“This training, which follows the successful launch of Meta AI in Europe last month, will better support millions of people and businesses in the EU by teaching AI at Meta to better understand and reflect their cultures, languages, and history,” Meta explained.

Privacy regulators from numerous European countries, including Belgium, France, and the Netherlands, have voiced their concerns regarding Meta’s plans and strongly advise users to take action before its new privacy policy goes into effect on May 27th.

The Verbraucherzentrale North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is willing to go a step further and take legal action against Meta if the company doesn’t halt its training plans.

The regional DPA sent a cease and desist letter to the American tech company on April 30th. If Meta doesn’t comply with this request voluntarily, it will consider legal action.

“We need to act quickly, because once all the data has been fed into the AI, it is difficult to retrieve it,” says Christine Steffen, data protection expert at the NRW.

According to the privacy expert, Meta’s procedure doesn’t meet legal requirements. The company falsely claims to have a legitimate interest in the extensive use of European users’ data. They should have a say in the matter. Therefore, Meta should ask European users if they consent to have their data used for training purposes.

“In this case, a so-called opt-out, as offered by Meta, is not sufficient; the data subjects would have to actively consent to this,” Steffen explains.

Max Schrems, Chairman of the Austrian privacy advocacy group Noyb, says he fully supports the NRW’s request. His organization filed a series of complaints against Meta’s plan in 2024. He despises the idea of Meta pressing ahead and ignoring the fundamental right to data protection of all affected Europeans.

“Meta is deliberately trying to ignore European law and is putting its commercial interests above the fundamental right to data protection of those affected. Meta should simply ask the affected people for their consent. But if Meta ignores EU law, there will be consequences for the whole of Europe,” Schrems states in a press release.