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Meta’s pause was real, but it is no longer the current position. On June 14, 2024, Meta agreed to delay plans to train its AI models with public content from adult Facebook and Instagram users in the European Union and European Economic Area after intervention from Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC). Meta later resumed processing in the EU in March 2025 after revising its notices, objection process and safeguards. The DPC says it has not approved or found the processing compliant.
What Meta paused in June 2024
The pause covered Meta’s proposed use of publicly shared content from adult EU/EEA users’ Facebook and Instagram accounts to train large language and generative-AI models. The proposed material included:
- Public posts and comments
- Public photos and captions
- Other public content within the stated scope of the plan
Meta said ordinary private messages between friends and family were not included, and that public data from accounts belonging to users under 18 would be excluded. Meta described the plan and its exclusions in its June 2024 explanation.
This did not mean that Meta planned to use every category of private account data. However, privacy questions still applied because publicly visible content can contain personal information and may be processed for a new purpose.
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Why Ireland’s regulator intervened
Ireland’s DPC is Meta’s lead EU supervisory authority because Meta’s European operations are based in Ireland. In June 2024, it acted in coordination with other European data-protection authorities and asked Meta to delay the rollout. The DPC’s account of the engagement describes the pause as a response to regulatory concerns, not as a final finding that Meta had violated the GDPR.
Meta proposed relying on the GDPR’s legitimate interests legal basis under Article 6(1)(f), rather than obtaining prior consent from every user. That choice made the legal and practical safeguards especially important. Regulators examined whether Meta had demonstrated a valid interest, whether the processing was necessary and proportionate, whether users were adequately informed, and whether they could meaningfully object.
The original objection process had practical problems
The DPC’s 2024 annual report documented problems with Meta’s first objection mechanism. Some users could not access the form, some could not use it in the mobile app, and some encountered errors or received no clear confirmation after submitting an objection. These were not merely abstract transparency concerns: they affected whether users could exercise a key GDPR right in practice.
The DPC also raised questions about Meta’s proposed notices and the legal basis for using personal data to develop AI models. The regulator later sought Europe-wide guidance rather than treating the June pause as the final legal answer.
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In September 2024, the DPC requested a formal opinion from the European Data Protection Board. The EDPB issued Opinion 28/2024 on December 18, 2024.
The opinion provided general criteria for data-protection authorities assessing the use of personal data in AI-model development and deployment. It was not a blanket authorization for Meta, and it did not establish that Meta’s particular processing was automatically lawful.
What changed when Meta resumed processing
Meta announced in April 2025 that it would train its AI models using public content shared by adult EU users and people’s interactions with Meta AI. The DPC says processing began in the EU in March 2025.
According to the DPC’s May 2025 statement, the revised approach included:
- Updated transparency notices
- Longer notice periods
- A more user-friendly objection form
- An objection form available in the app and across European jurisdictions
- Access to the form for more than a year
- Information about changing public posts to private
- De-identification measures, dataset filtering and output filters
- Updated legitimate-interest, compatibility and data-protection impact assessments
Meta said users would receive notifications in the app or by email explaining the processing and linking to an objection form. It also said it would honor objections that users had already submitted as well as new objections.
What data is covered under the later approach?
It is important not to collapse several different categories into the vague phrase “European users’ data.” Under Meta’s 2025 description, the relevant categories are:
| Data category | How it is treated |
|---|---|
| Public posts, comments, photos and captions from adult EU users | Included within the described AI-training approach, subject to Meta’s stated safeguards and the objection process. |
| Interactions with Meta AI | Meta said questions and queries submitted to Meta AI could be used to improve its models. |
| Ordinary private messages between friends and family | Meta said these were not used unless someone chose to share them with Meta AI. |
| Public data from EU accounts belonging to people under 18 | Meta said this would not be used for training. |
The distinction matters. A private conversation with friends and a question deliberately sent to Meta AI are not the same type of data under Meta’s stated approach.
Why Meta says it wants European data
Meta argued that models trained without European public content could perform worse on European languages and dialects, local geography, cultural references, colloquialisms, humor, sarcasm and regional online trends. It also said excluding European data could leave users with an inferior experience and weaken Europe’s position in AI.
Those are Meta’s stated arguments, not an independent finding that the claimed performance gains outweigh the privacy costs. The central regulatory question is whether Meta’s interest in improving locally relevant AI justifies the processing and whether users receive meaningful information and control.
Can EU users object?
Yes. Meta’s revised process provides an objection form linked from its notices, and the DPC says the form was required to work in-app, across European jurisdictions and for more than a year.
An objection is not the same as prior consent. Meta’s approach relies on legitimate interest and gives users a right to object, rather than asking them to opt in before processing begins.
Users should also avoid assuming that an objection automatically removes information from a model that has already been trained. The available regulatory material establishes the objection process and future-use commitments, but it does not establish that every individual objection can fully purge data from datasets, embeddings, model checkpoints or a completed model.
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Changing a post’s visibility from public to private may affect whether it falls within the dataset. The DPC says Meta provided users with information about this control.
But making an old post private should not be treated as a guaranteed deletion mechanism. It does not necessarily undo processing that has already occurred, and users should not assume that privatizing content removes every trace of it from a dataset or trained model unless Meta specifically confirms that outcome.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Is the pause still in effect?
No. The DPC’s 2025 annual report says Meta began processing in the EU in March 2025, and Meta publicly announced its revised approach on April 14, 2025.
The current position is therefore more complicated than either “Meta was permanently blocked” or “Meta received approval.” The pause forced changes to Meta’s notices, objection process and safeguards, but the DPC’s latest material says it has not approved or found compliant Meta’s use of personal data for generative-AI training. The regulator continues to monitor the processing and may use further powers if necessary.
EU/EEA scope versus the United Kingdom
The 2024 pause concerned the EU and EEA. “Europe” is not a single legal category for this issue. The United Kingdom followed a separate regulatory path; Meta announced in September 2024 that it would use public information from adult UK Facebook and Instagram users after engagement with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office. That should not be confused with the DPC-led EU/EEA process.
What happens next?
The DPC’s continuing monitoring is significant because the revised safeguards are not the same as a final compliance ruling. The regulator has indicated that Meta must provide information about its processing and training activity, and further regulatory action remains possible.
The broader issue extends beyond Meta. Social platforms hold large volumes of first-party content that can help AI systems understand local language and culture. But “public” does not automatically answer the GDPR questions of lawful basis, transparency, purpose limitation, necessity, proportionality and user rights.
Bottom line
Meta did pause its planned EU/EEA AI-training rollout on June 14, 2024 after Ireland’s DPC raised concerns about the legal basis, notices and objection mechanism. That pause was temporary. Meta resumed processing in 2025 under a revised approach covering public adult-user content and interactions with Meta AI, while excluding ordinary private messages and data from minors as described by Meta.
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The DPC has not declared the processing compliant or formally approved it. The accurate description is a regulatory pause followed by a modified resumption under continued scrutiny—not a permanent ban, a blanket approval or proof that all European private messages were used.
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