Meta Revises Employee Tracking Plans
Meta is scaling back its plan to monitor its employees' computer activity, as detailed in an internal memo distributed on Tuesday.
In April, the company faced criticism from its own workforce after announcing a new tool designed to log keystrokes and mouse clicks to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models.
According to , the updated controls will enable employees to pause data collection for "up to 30 minutes at a time" and also to request exemptions from the initiative entirely.
Meta declined to provide an official comment on the record.
This development follows several weeks of employee backlash, including a petition opposing the tracking tool that has garnered over 1,500 signatures.
During the initial announcement of the tool, named the Model Capability Initiative (MCI), Meta stated to the BBC:
If we're building agents to help people complete everyday tasks using computers, our models need real examples of how people actually use them.
The company also emphasized that the data collected was "not used for any other purpose," and that the tool incorporated "safeguards in place to protect sensitive content."
Despite these assurances, employees expressed dissatisfaction. One Meta employee, who requested anonymity, told the BBC that having their actions used to train AI models felt "very dystopian," with concerns that this could lead to further job cuts.
Meta has laid off approximately 2,000 employees this year. In April, the company informed staff of plans to reduce its workforce by 10%, equating to roughly 8,000 positions.
Another former employee commented to the BBC that the tracking tool was "just the latest way they're shoving AI down everyone's throat."
An internal memo reviewed by was reportedly authored by Stephane Kasriel, a vice president within Meta's Superintelligence Labs division.
Kasriel noted that the team responsible for the MCI had implemented "several optimizations" to mitigate the tool's impact on laptop battery life.
This adjustment followed reports from employees that the tool's data consumption was significantly increasing internet usage during remote work.
While we remain confident in the privacy protections we put in place at launch, which went through several layers of risk review, we have heard your concerns about personal data on work devices, battery life, and wanting more control over when capturing happens,Kasriel wrote in the memo.
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