European privacy group noyb has issued a cease-and-desist letter to Meta, warning the company to halt plans to use personal data from Facebook and Instagram users in the EU to train its artificial intelligence systems. Meta announced it would begin the data use on May 27, citing “legitimate interest” rather than seeking explicit user consent—drawing sharp rebuke from privacy advocates.
The Vienna-based organization, founded by privacy lawyer Max Schrems, argues that Meta is bypassing the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by treating user data as a default input for AI, rather than asking for opt-in consent. The complaint could be a precursor to sweeping legal action: under the EU’s new Collective Redress Directive, noyb and other qualified entities may file injunctions across member states and even pursue EU-wide class actions, potentially seeking billions in damages.
“Meta starts a huge fight just to have an opt-out system instead of an opt-in system,” said Schrems. “They rely on an alleged ‘legitimate interest’ to just take the data and run with it. This is neither legal nor necessary.”
The group warns that Meta’s approach not only undermines user rights but could expose the company to massive legal risks. Under GDPR, non-material damages per user can reach hundreds or thousands of euros. With approximately 400 million Meta users in Europe, damages could stretch into the hundreds of billions.
Meta’s policy gives users only the ability to opt out—and only before training begins—limiting access to rights such as data deletion or correction. Once incorporated into AI models like Meta’s open-source Llama, this data becomes practically irretrievable.
Though Meta claims to have consulted with EU regulators, noyb says it has seen no formal approval from data protection authorities. Meanwhile, consumer groups across Europe, including Germany’s VZ NRW, are also exploring litigation.
noyb is evaluating legal action in multiple jurisdictions and has not ruled out filing a full EU class action. “Even just managing this litigation will be a huge task for Meta,” Schrems said. “We’re surprised they would take this risk just to avoid asking users for consent.”
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