Facebook, the social networking giant owned by Meta, is rolling out a new AI-powered feature that analyzes users’ phone photos to generate story suggestions, collages, and recaps even if those images haven’t been directly shared on the platform.
A recent TechCrunch report reveals that U.S. and Canadian users are receiving pop-up prompts asking to “allow cloud processing” of their camera roll when trying to create a new Story.
Meta says this is strictly opt-in, and content will not be used for targeted advertising. However, consenting users will also be accepting Meta’s AI Terms, allowing the company to analyze media content and facial features.
How It Works And Why Experts Are Concerned
Facebook’s new AI feature, turning on can analyze your phone’s local photos through cloud processing to identify faces, dates, places, and themes with intention of enabling the easiest story creation.
However, privacy experts warn of facial recognition, ambiguous data retention practices, content analysis across your devices outside of the Facebook platform, and generally the lack of strong US privacy regulations like the GDPR should raise concerns for user data to be misused.
Global Privacy Backlash and Precedents
This rollout happens as global pushback against unregulated AI data collection intensifies. In Europe, Meta began training its AI models using public data after getting approval from Ireland’s Data Protection Commission.
Meanwhile, German regulators have called on Apple and Google to remove DeepSeek AI apps over concerns about illegal data transfers to China. In the U.S., OpenAI has landed a $200 million Pentagon contract to develop AI tools for defense and cybersecurity, underscoring the growing overlap between personal data, AI, and national interests.
Meta Promises Privacy, But Should Users Trust It?
Meta insists that AI-generated photo suggestions are private and only visible to the user. The company also claims uploaded data won’t be used for ads.
However, the same photos containing location metadata, timestamps, and identifiable faces—could easily be repurposed for AI training datasets, critics warn. Even if usage is limited now, terms of service can change.
Bottom Line
Facebook is venturing into AI-driven personalized systems but is close to crossing the line from convenience to surveillance. Although users can “opt-out”, most users are unlikely to read the user agreement, leaving a potentially massive underregulated influx of data flowing into the Meta cloud.
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