Turn off this feature on Facebook now

Users may have been letting Facebook access their personal photo libraries without even realizing it. Photo: Elyse Betters Picaro/ZDNET .

Facebook's parent company, Meta, is expanding the reach of users' photo libraries beyond the photos already uploaded to the social network.

According to ZDNET , Meta is able to analyze and save photos from users' phone photo libraries, including images that have never been uploaded to Facebook through a controversial feature.

When users see the “cloud processing” pop-up and tap Allow, they accept Meta’s AI Terms of Service and allow Meta’s AI to analyze their “media and facial features.”

Once activated, Facebook will continuously upload photos from your personal photo library to Meta's cloud to search for "valuable moments" and suggest creative edits and collages.

Since August 2024, Facebook users have begun to discover new options buried deep in the settings, allowing Meta to access photo libraries to make AI-based suggestions, such as "personalized creative ideas, including travel highlights and collages."

However, some users claim they don't remember agreeing to the feature, raising serious privacy concerns, especially for those who didn't actively opt in.

The feature, which was tested over the summer, is now rolling out more widely in many countries. If users opt in, Facebook will use images from their personal photo library, not just photos that have already been posted, to suggest themed albums, summary posts, or AI-generated photo re-creations.

The system relies on data like date, location, and the presence of people or objects to generate suggestions. These suggestions are only visible to the owner unless they choose to share. They can appear in Stories, Feed, or Memories.

ZDNET 's editorial director discovered that Meta's "suggested sharing of photo galleries" feature had been enabled without her knowledge. Several other experts also confirmed that the feature was enabled in their Facebook apps, though they only vaguely recalled dismissing the pop-up notification about the feature.

Meta claims that the photo gallery sharing suggestion feature is not enabled by default. However, if you are worried that you accidentally clicked yes or dismissed the pop-up, here is how to check and disable it immediately.

Users perform the following steps in the Facebook app:

1. Open the Facebook app and log in. Tap the Menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the lower right corner, then select Settings and Privacy .

2. Tap Settings . Scroll down to find and select Camera roll sharing suggestions .

3, On this page, users will see two options. Make sure both of the following toggles are turned off: "See suggestions based on your photo library as you browse Facebook" and "Get creative ideas tailored to you by allowing cloud processing of your photo library" (if available).