Meta will mine AI chat data to personalize ads starting December 16, no opting out

Meta will begin using people’s conversations with its AI chatbot to personalize content and advertisements across Facebook and Instagram starting December 16. The social media giant said users cannot opt out of the new data collection practice, which affects the 1 billion monthly active users of Meta AI and represents a significant expansion of how tech companies monetize artificial intelligence interactions.

What you should know: Meta’s AI chat data will join existing user information like likes and follows to shape content recommendations and advertising across its platforms.

• Users will receive notifications about the changes starting October 7, but they won’t have an option to decline the new data usage policy.
• The feature only applies to people who actively use Meta AI, but conversations will influence what they see in feeds, Reels, and advertisements.
• For example, someone discussing hiking with Meta AI could later see hiking groups, friends’ trail updates, or ads for outdoor gear.

Privacy protections: Meta says it will avoid using sensitive conversation topics for targeted advertising purposes.

• The company won’t use discussions about religious views, sexual orientation, political views, health, or racial and ethnic origin to show people ads.
• “People’s interactions simply are going to be another piece of the input that will inform the personalization of feeds and ads,” said Christy Harris, privacy policy manager at Meta.

Geographic rollout: The new policy will launch in most regions on December 16, with notable exceptions for privacy-regulated markets.

• The UK, European Union, and South Korea are excluded from the initial rollout, likely due to stricter data protection laws in these regions.
• Meta plans to expand the feature over time to additional markets.

The big picture: Meta’s move represents one of the most ambitious attempts to monetize AI chat interactions at scale across multiple platforms.

• While other tech giants like Google and Amazon have begun monetizing AI tools through cloud services, few have used AI conversations to personalize content and advertising across their entire ecosystem.
• CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at this year’s shareholder meeting that the company’s focus is “deepening the experience and making Meta AI the leading personal AI with an emphasis on personalization, voice conversations and entertainment.”

What they’re saying: “We’re still in the process of building the first offerings that will make use of this data,” Harris explained, indicating that Meta is still developing specific applications for the AI conversation data.