According to political reporter Jake Evans if you’re an Australian adult on Facebook, your public photos, posts, and other data are being scraped to train their AI models. That’s the admission from Facebook, as revealed in a recent inquiry.

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Unlike the EU, which gets the luxury of an opt-out option, Australians are left in the lurch. Facebook hasn’t been required to provide such an option under local privacy laws, and when asked if one might be introduced, representatives remained noncommittal.

Meta’s global privacy director, Melinda Claybaugh, faced questions during the inquiry about whether Facebook is harvesting the data of every Australian to enhance its generative AI tools. Initially, Claybaugh denied this, but the situation quickly unraveled.

Labor senator Tony Sheldon probed whether Meta had been using Australian posts dating back to 2007 for its AI products. Claybaugh replied with a firm “we have not done that.” But Greens senator David Shoebridge was ready to challenge that assertion.

Shoebridge didn’t hold back: "The truth of the matter is that unless you have consciously set those posts to private since 2007, Meta has just decided that you will scrape all of the photos and all of the texts from every public post on Instagram or Facebook since 2007, unless there was a conscious decision to set them on private. That’s the reality, isn’t it?”

Claybaugh’s response? “Correct.”

Claybaugh also noted that while accounts of those under 18 are not scraped, public photos of children on accounts like Senator Sheldon’s would indeed be. The Facebook representative couldn't clarify whether data from users who were underage when they created their accounts but are now adults had been scraped.

In Europe, Meta has been upfront about using user data to train its AI products, with an opt-out option provided due to stringent privacy laws. According to Claybaugh, this is because European privacy laws are still being interpreted in the context of AI training.

"In Europe there is an ongoing legal question around what is the interpretation of existing privacy law with respect to AI training," Claybaugh says. "We have paused launching our AI products in Europe while there is a lack of certainty. So you are correct that we are offering an opt-out to users in Europe.

"“I will say that the ongoing conversation in Europe is the direct result of the existing regulatory landscape."

The development comes on the heels of the federal government’s pledge to ban social media for children, citing the platforms’ potential harms. Senator Shoebridge told the ABC that if the government is serious about addressing online harms, overhauling privacy laws should be a top priority.

“There’s a reason that people’s privacy is protected in Europe and not in Australia,” Shoebridge says. “It’s because European lawmakers made tough privacy laws. Meta made it clear today that if Australia had these same laws, Australians’ data would also have been protected.”

“The government’s failure to act on privacy means companies like Meta are continuing to monetize and exploit pictures and videos of children on Facebook.” He added,

Facebook's so-called data scraping and its so-called benefits

Let’s get real about Facebook's so-called data scraping and its so-called benefits. You’ve got this colossal social media behemoth, scraping every public photo and post of Australians with a voracious appetite.

They claim it’s all about training their AI models—whatever that means. But despite their relentless data harvesting, the platform can’t seem to stop fake profiles and scams from running rampant.

Every day, countless fake profiles are reported, but guess what? The algorithms that are supposed to protect us? They’re about as effective as a screen door on a submarine. These fraudulent accounts, fueled by stolen images, slip through the cracks, operating like they're invisible.

Even after being reported, they continue to thrive. So, what exactly is this data being used for if it can’t even help keep scammers at bay?

It's become glaringly obvious that Facebook’s grand data scheme isn’t about user safety—it’s about profit.

The platform scoops up your private data and photos, monetizes it to make billions, and you? You get nothing in return. Nada. Not even a thank you.

So, let’s be honest here. Why should we trust a platform that exploits our personal information for its own gain while failing miserably at addressing real issues like online fraud? If you’re still posting personal data on Facebook, it’s time to think twice.

Your private data deserves better protection than what this multi-billion-dollar platform offers. Keep your photos and info away from Facebook, because clearly, they’re not using it to make the platform any safer for you.

What data scraping really is.

Alright, let’s cut through the jargon and get down to what data scraping really is. Imagine Facebook has this gigantic vacuum cleaner, and it’s set to suck up every bit of data it can find—from your public photos to your posts and everything in between. That’s data scraping in a nutshell.

When we talk about data scraping, we’re talking about the process where a company like Facebook uses automated tools to collect massive amounts of data from its users. They don’t ask for your permission (however you do need to read the fine print); they just scoop up everything that’s publicly available.

It’s like having a nosy neighbor who’s not only peeking through your windows but also collecting every scrap of information they can about you. The goal? To use this data for a variety of purposes—often to train their AI models, target ads, or even build detailed user profiles that can be sold to the highest bidder.

But here’s the deal, while Facebook’s vacuum cleaner is busy hoovering up your information, it doesn’t seem too concerned about using it to tackle real problems like fake profiles or scams.

The government is expected to announce long-awaited reforms to the Privacy Act soon, following a 2020 review that deemed the current laws outdated. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus had previously indicated that the new legislation would be announced in August.