Meta employees petition against collecting keystrokes and screen data for ML training

Petition against Meta's employee training data collection for ML models

Over 1,600 Meta employees signed an open letter demanding the company stop collecting keystrokes, mouse movements, screen content, and other computer-use data under its 'Model Capability Initiative' for AI training. The letter says leadership disclosed no completed privacy reviews, offered executives an opt-out, and failed to address how sensitive data like SSNs would be protected. It cites Meta's €91M GDPR fine for storing plaintext passwords and a March 2026 incident where an AI agent caused a sensitive data leak.

Why it matters: 1,600+ employees petitioning against internal AI data collection, with exec exemptions and missing privacy reviews — strong conflict. HKR all hit, but it's an internal petition, not a product launch or policy change, so capped below 85.