Who trains on your data? Auditing X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Substack
Social Media Edition!
Hi AI ethics enthusiasts,
AI companies collect and train their AI on user data, often without informed consent. That’s why I’ve decided to audit platforms’ privacy policies.
Today, I’m presenting the results for seven social media platforms. When possible, I explain how to opt out. Included are:
X - Note that a new training policy comes into force Nov 15!
Facebook
Instagram
Reddit
TikTok
LinkedIn
Substack
In addition, see my post from last week about ChatGPT, Claude, Llama, and Gemini.
Based on my findings, I sort platforms into categories:
Shield Train - Their default is not to train on user data.
Vacuum Train - Their default is to train on user data, but you can opt out.
Black Hole Train - They train on user data, and you cannot opt out. Nothing escapes!
Fishy Train - They don’t explicitly admit to training, but probably are, and there are no opt-out options. Very fishy!
Elephant in the Train - There’s no telling what they do because their privacy policy ignores the topic of training, leaving a huge elephant in the room.
And with that, let’s start the show!
X (formerly Twitter)
X uses users’ content to train Musk’s chatbot, Grok, by default. In addition, as of November 15, they will allow third parties to train on their users’ content. When I checked yesterday on my account, Oct 20 in the US, this setting was off by default, but they may turn it on by default after the new policy comes into force. Their privacy policy is here, see especially section 2.1
Having said that, you can opt out of both:
To turn off Grok training: Settings > Privacy and Safety > Data sharing > Data sharing and personalization > Grok
To toggle third party training: Settings > Privacy and Safety > Data sharing > Data sharing and personalization >Data sharing with business partners
Because training for Grok is on by default, X belongs in the Vacuum Train category!
Facebook & Instagram (by Meta)
Meta trains on public posts from Facebook and Instagram, except for EU users (as of June 2024). There is no way to opt out of that. However, they do not train on private information on these platforms, such as private posts and direct messages, so you do have the option of changing posts’ settings. The policy is here.
Since they train on user data and there’s no opt out, they belong in the “Black Hole Train” category.
