Meta Platforms is scaling back its controversial Model Capability Initiative (MCI), a tool designed to track employees' mouse movements and keystrokes to train artificial intelligence models. The reversal follows weeks of internal backlash from staff who raised concerns about privacy, battery drain on devices, and the ethics of being monitored to potentially train their own replacements.
Employees had organized protests, distributing flyers and petitions that labeled the company an "Employee Data Extraction Factory." In an internal memo, Meta acknowledged the feedback and announced changes. Under the revised policy, employees will be able to pause the data collection for 30-minute intervals and can request exemptions, a notable concession from the initial mandatory rollout for U.S.-based workers.