TECH NEWS – Mark Zuckerberg’s company, which now charges Facebook and Instagram users for any kind of customer support, was forced to take a rather embarrassing step.

As artificial intelligence becomes more integrated into daily life, regulators are ramping up pressure to ensure ethical data handling. Users often share deeply personal content on AI platforms without realizing the implications, leading to growing concerns over digital privacy. To avoid reputational damage — already shaky due to widespread Facebook and Instagram account bans — and potential legal consequences, Meta released a new update that alerts users to the risks of sharing personal information through its AI app.

Many people have unknowingly exposed sensitive or even humiliating details via the app. Users didn’t realize their queries were appearing in the Discover feed — publicly visible — which led to extremely private conversations being accessible to anyone. While the Meta AI app doesn’t publish chats automatically, numerous users accidentally made their content visible to the public.

This issue dates back to April, when Meta launched its AI chatbot. Since then, queries have surfaced in the feed ranging from unpaid taxes to tips on improving digestion — all without users realizing they were publishing the content. Screenshots of these awkward exchanges recently surfaced on social media via the “Discover” feed, triggering privacy backlash. Experts slammed Meta’s decision to keep this feed public by default, which contrasts sharply with the approach of most other AI chat platforms.

Security analyst Rachel Tobac, who previously worked with Meta, highlighted the safety risks involved. She noted that users have formed habits around AI tools and don’t expect their chats to appear in a public feed — especially not styled like social media. The Mozilla Foundation also urged Meta to redesign the app layout and provide clear, recurring notices whenever user prompts become public.

In response to the criticism, Meta quickly added a warning label — but it only appears once. The warning reads: “Your prompts are public and visible to everyone. Your prompts may be suggested by Meta on other Meta apps. Avoid sharing personal or sensitive information.”

While Meta deserves credit for acknowledging the problem, experts say this minimal fix isn’t enough. A full redesign focused on user control and data protection is necessary if the company wants to prevent further privacy failures.

Source: WCCFTech, Business Insider