Celebrities fall for ‘Goodbye Meta AI’ hoax

Celebrities like James McAvoy and Tom Brady mistakenly shared the false ‘Goodbye Meta AI’ post.
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Over 600,000 users, including celebrities like James McAvoy, Ashley Tisdale, and Tom Brady, have been tricked by a viral hoax on Instagram. The message claimed sharing the ‘Goodbye Meta AI’ post would prevent Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, from using personal images for AI training.

The viral trend led many to believe posting the message would revoke Meta’s ability to use their data. However, fact-checkers, including Lead Stories, have labelled these posts as false, confirming that users can only opt-out via account settings, not by posting stories.

Meta confirmed that the viral post, which gained momentum after major celebrity shares, has no impact on privacy settings. The hoax stemmed from opposition to Meta’s June announcement regarding the use of public posts to train its AI models.

Though the trend began on 1 September, its popularity spiked after celebrities shared it, with Google Trends showing increased interest after 24 September. This instance echoes past privacy-related hoaxes and reflects public unease about AI data usage.