Meta has updated its privacy policy to allow data from user interactions with its AI tools to be used for targeted advertising across Facebook, Instagram, and other company platforms.
The policy, revised last month, specifies that Meta collects information from AI-driven features under the umbrella term “AI at Meta.” This includes prompts and related metadata from conversations, such as questions, messages, media, and other content users or their contacts share with the company’s AI services.
“AI at Meta” covers products including the Meta AI chatbot embedded in Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, as well as experimental tools like Vibes and AI features in Ray-Ban smart glasses. The updated policy states that interactions with these tools may be used to personalize ads.
Meta first disclosed the change in an October press release, saying the data would help improve content and ad recommendations.
“Whether it’s a voice chat or a text exchange with our AI features, this update will help us improve the recommendations we provide for people across our platforms so they’re more likely to see content they’re actually interested in — and less of the content they’re not,” the company said.
Meta cited an example in which a user discussing hiking with Meta AI could later receive ads for hiking boots. The company said users would be informed about the change through in-app notifications and emails several weeks before it took effect.
The move quickly drew criticism from advocacy organizations. At the end of October, a coalition of 36 privacy, consumer protection, and civil rights groups sent a letter urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the policy and its potential impact on consumers and privacy.
“The Commission should recognize that Meta’s decision to monetize AI-driven chatbots without even a basic opt-out mechanism reflects the company’s broader strategy: an aggressive expansion of AI for marketing and advertising,” the groups wrote.
The letter argues that the changes are “part of a deliberate strategy to normalize a fundamental expansion of surveillance-driven and behavior-changing marketing.” Meta has said that more than 1 billion people use Meta AI each month.
The organizations called on the FTC to use its authority under a 2019 consent decree with Meta and Section 5 of the FTC Act, which bans unfair or deceptive practices, to investigate the program and halt the ad targeting tied to AI interactions.
It is unclear whether the FTC will act. The Trump administration has taken a generally supportive stance toward AI, and President Donald Trump signed an executive order in December aimed at limiting state-level regulations on AI.
Meta and the FTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.