How to prevent Facebook from arbitrarily taking photos from your device to train AI

Meta is currently testing a feature that's causing some Facebook users to see a pop-up asking for "cloud processing" permission. The message appears when users try to create a new Story on Facebook and, if approved, will allow Meta to "continuously" upload media from your device to its servers to suggest collages, summaries, or reformats using AI.

Meta is one of the worst tech companies when it comes to privacy and security after incidents involving user data exposure to third parties.

If you allow Meta to access your photo library to process images, you agree to Meta's AI terms, including the right to analyze your media and facial features and "retain and use" the personal information you share.

While Facebook says the feature is experimental, the ability to opt-in to granting Meta access to your photos doesn't appear to be new.

You may have enabled this feature in your Facebook settings since it is off by default, and should decline the pop-up prompt if you do not want to pass any more data to Meta.

Turn this option off immediately if you don't want Meta to "pry" into the photos you have saved on your device. Photo: Tue Minh

If you see a pop-up on Facebook, you can tap Don't Allow to block AI suggestions from accessing your camera roll. You can make sure this feature is disabled in your Facebook app settings:

Go to Menu by tapping your profile picture, then the Settings icon. Scroll to Camera Roll Sharing Suggestions and check that Get creative ideas for you by allowing camera roll cloud processing is turned off.

You can type Album in the search box to see this option faster.

You should also take this opportunity to review which apps have access to your photo library and revoke any permissions that aren’t absolutely necessary for the app’s core functionality. While these permissions may be mostly harmless, there are malware campaigns that target the sensitive information found in your photos and screenshots.