You can now stop Meta training its AI on your public posts

Meta has let Australians object to their Facebook and Instagram posts being used to train its AI since July 2025, but it never announced it, the ABC reported on Thursday.

The "objection" form sits in Meta's privacy settings. The ABC confirmed Meta made no separate announcement when it added the form in Australia, and found no reports of users being told about it directly. Word has only recently spread through people's own posts.

How it got here

In mid-2024 it came out that Meta was using photos, posts and comments going back to 2007 to train its AI. At the time, Australians were told that, unlike people in the EU, they couldn't opt out because Australia's privacy protections are weaker. The EU has had the objection form since 2024.

Meta hasn't said why it started offering the form here, and the ABC notes the relevant parts of the Privacy Act haven't changed in recent years. Meta was approached for comment.

"A lot of people who would like to use that option are not going to find out about it," Tom Sulston from Digital Rights Watch told the ABC.

What the form does

According to Meta, people who send in the form get an email confirming it won't use their public data to train its AI in future. Accounts set to private are already exempt, as are private messages and accounts belonging to under 18s.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has been assessing Meta's practices since they were first reported. It has previously said that data being publicly available doesn't mean it can legally be used to train AI models. A spokesperson told the ABC the OAIC has engaged extensively with Meta and other platforms and intends to publish the results of its investigations in the coming months.

The ABC notes how the law applies here isn't entirely settled, and some privacy advocates think the form may be Meta's response to that, or a move made ahead of further changes to privacy rules.

What it means for a business here

If you or people on your team post publicly on Facebook or Instagram, this is about those posts. The ABC's report covers personal accounts and doesn't say how business Pages are treated, so check whether it applies to yours.

Whether to opt out is up to you. If you'd rather your public posts weren't used, the form is in Meta's privacy settings and the ABC has published a step-by-step guide. Staff who post about work from their own accounts can decide for themselves, so it's worth letting them know the form exists.

After that, keep an eye out for the OAIC's findings.