The Discover feed of the Meta AI app is reportedly inundated with users’ private conversations and requests that have been unintentionally shared publicly. Numerous accounts have surfaced highlighting instances of highly personal text chats and image prompts that suggest users may be inadvertently posting them to the app’s social feed. This trend has sparked concerns among users and provoked questions from experts regarding the effectiveness of the company’s privacy measures.
Meta AI App’s Social Feed Reportedly Contains Posts About Medical and Legal Queries
A report from TechCrunch noted that some posts on the Discover feed include users soliciting advice on sensitive topics such as “how to evade taxes,” inquiring about “how to write a character reference letter for an employee facing legal issues,” and even questions like “what should I do about a bunch of red bumps on my inner thigh.”
This observation aligns with findings from Kylie Robinson, Senior Correspondent at Wired, who reported seeing posts where users asked, “Do younger women like older white men?” among other personal questions.
Additionally, Calli Schroeder, Senior Counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, spoke to Wired about her encounters with posts featuring users sharing sensitive medical data, mental health issues, and personal information, including home addresses linked to ongoing court cases.
While staff members at Gadgets 360 have not encountered any explicitly private posts, they have noted unusual instances where users have shared selfies that stemmed from requests to the chatbot for simple edits. Some of these images featured minors with altered hair colors. Moreover, several users on X (formerly Twitter) have shared screenshots of similarly private posts from the app’s social feed.
It is not definitively clear if all users were aware they were making their posts public. However, the personal nature of the queries and images suggests a substantial possibility that many were unaware of their actions.
Currently, the process for publicly sharing a post on Meta AI involves a two-step method after a user interacts with the chatbot. A “Share” button appears at the top of the chat interface. Tapping this button directs users to a new page labeled “Preview,” where the AI generates an editable title for the post, alongside the query and response. A prominent “Post” button is also displayed at the bottom.
Notably, there is a lack of clear communication informing users that activating the Post button renders the entire conversation public. While tech-savvy individuals might grasp what the Post button entails, less experienced users could easily fall victim to misunderstanding, inadvertently sharing their conversations.
Upon launching the Meta AI app, the tech company had previously stated, “And as always, you’re in control: nothing is shared to your feed unless you choose to post it.” However, the incidents reported raise pertinent questions about whether the two-step process sufficiently informs users about the implications of clicking the “Post” button.
