I haven’t posted that much for a while due to me researching the following posts to try to get to the bottom of it…. and well erm failing mainly! I cannot confirm what I wanted to confirm but I have heard a few sources say they believe what I am about to discuss. To the best of my knowledge Meta basically scraped as much data as they can from their platforms to train their AI. They have acknowledged that they scraped public posts but my sources all believe, though cannot confirm (because I mean how could you as it was done automagically) that Meta actually scraped ALL of it’s data to train AI. That means anything posted to Meta since around 2007 has been used to train their AI. Meta only relented and admitted that they had scraped data after being threatened in Australia during a recent hearing and only said that they had scraped data set to public, but with the various bugs and glitches that have blighted the platform regularly my sources believe that Meta doesn’t actually know if it scraped everything or not…
As Meta starts to admit serious breaches of trust and privacy on a regular basis the results of its policies has actually started to impact the platform. Engagement and MAU (monthly active users) are down massively and it appears that, well, the platforms have had their golden periods and the decline has set in. I have tried to report some positivity here recently, but under a veritable avalanche of bad news it is getting harder and harder to find any! It appears that the majority of people are realising that social media is a dangerous place to be and keep your data and privacy secure – but even die hard followers are now getting fed up of it. This shift means that the divide between those who embrace everything and those who have shunned social media recently has widened with many users and accounts I personally interacted with now lying dormant. This not only includes Meta and its products but the other main social media platforms, and well in reality the tinternet as a whole. It is these reasons that honestly make it difficult for me to actually recommend a social media platform right now unless you want to see your privacy and data security fall and the amount of scams and attempts to fleece you increase. I am in the UK and the scams, for example, have made even the simplest of banking way more difficult than it ever used to be, and things like ebay and FB marketplace like the wild west again.
The next issue I have come across is that Meta doesn’t allow you to opt out of this AI scraping unless you live in the EU. Now call me cynical, but I reckon that this will make zero difference to the data being scraped, I mean they have already done it so it matters little. The track record at Meta also tells me that I doubt this little feature will make any difference either…
However in Australia it has been argued that the government has done little or nothing to regulate Meta so far, and that this is a massive failing from those in charge of regulating these big corps. This is far more serious as far as I can see as more and more countries ban/fine/regulate Meta worldwide. I have said this numerous times but I believe that Meta (and most others) will be forced to end “free” accounts soon and we will have to pay to use certain features on Social Media. I mean X/Twitter has done this and seen some success and there are plenty of other websites and platforms that have started charging, and I think this is what will inevitably start happening. Look at the majority of news websites these days, they are all behind paywalls now – this is one way to satisfy a lot of issues. I can also see it resulting in most casual social media users leaving various platforms too – but hey that’s a discussion for another time (monetization cough cough).
X
Whilst we are talking on bans and regulation I do have to say that Brazil has stood firm on taking action against X/Twitter and has levied large fines, seized assets and well basically ruined Elon Musk in that country. He appears to be chucking his toys out of the pram again, something which he appears to do on a regular basis these days. The days of social media and tech corps just getting away with things look to be drawing to an end – I just can’t decide if that is good, bad or indifferent right now as it just seems to be having mostly negative impacts short term. I guess we shall have to see what happens throughout 2024 and into 2025!
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/12/24242789/meta-training-ai-models-facebook-instagram-photo-post-data?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-gb
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