Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company behind Facebook and Instagram, will begin using conversations people have with its AI chatbot to target advertisements and tailor content more effectively. Starting December 16, 2025, Meta’s AI-powered chatbot interactions will be analyzed to understand users’ interests better and customize the ads and posts they see accordingly. For example, discussing hiking with the chatbot might lead to more hiking-related ads and content appearing on a user’s feed. The company plans to notify users of this change several weeks prior to the update, but users will not have the option to opt-out of this data use except for certain sensitive topics such as religious or political views and for users in the UK, South Korea, and the EU where these policies will not initially apply.
This decision by Meta raises significant privacy concerns, as conversations with AI chatbots can contain deeply personal and sensitive information. Meta’s AI chatbots are embedded not only in standalone apps but also within Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, collectively serving over a billion active users monthly. Unlike end-to-end encrypted messaging apps like WhatsApp, conversations with AI chatbots on other Meta platforms are not fully encrypted, exposing user data to potential access by Meta and, indirectly, by contractors who review these conversations for AI training purposes. Investigations have revealed that contractors hired by Meta have read intimate conversations with personal identifiers like names, contact details, photos, and sensitive discussions. This although Meta’s policies mention the possibility of human or automated review of AI interactions, the granularity and sensitivity of this data drastically amplify the risk of privacy breaches.
The use of AI conversations for ad targeting symbolically and literally illustrates how big tech companies prioritize monetization over individual privacy in an era when privacy should be paramount in public discourse. Meta generates almost all its revenue from advertising, and leveraging AI chatbot data is yet another step to deepen content personalization and prolong user engagement, creating a feedback loop of data harvesting and monetization. What adds to the breach of trust is the lag in transparency and user control. Meta’s privacy disclosures remain vague regarding data retention durations and details on third-party data sharing. The Global Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) standards underscore stringent transparency and purpose limitation, requirements skeptics argue Meta’s practices may be sidestepping. Furthermore, this rollout excludes some privacy-conscious regions, highlighting inconsistencies in user rights globally.
In conclusion, Meta’s strategy of using AI chatbot conversations as a source for targeted advertising starkly highlights serious security and privacy breaches inherent in current big tech practices. It underscores a troubling gap between corporate promises of protecting user privacy and actual business models reliant on deep data engagement and surveillance. At a time when privacy should be the central dialogue, Meta’s approach exemplifies how individual privacy continues to be compromised for profit under the guise of technological advancement and user experience enhancement. Users interacting with AI chatbots on Meta platforms must be aware of these implications and exercise caution about the sensitive information they share, as their interactions are becoming an integral part of the company’s ad targeting machinery.