Meta has updated its controversial employee tracking software to allow workers a 30-minute reprieve from surveillance, according to a leaked internal memo. The US tech giant, which began capturing employees' mouse movements and keystrokes in April to train its AI systems, faced backlash from staff who viewed it as a privacy breach.
The initiative, internally called the Model Capability Initiative (MCI), aims to help AI models replicate human-computer interactions. A petition against the tracking gathered over 1,500 signatures, with some employees describing it as “very dystopian” and likening Meta to an “employee data extraction factory”.
In response, Meta now allows staff to pause the tracking tool for “up to 30 minutes at a time” and request exemption from tracking altogether. Stephane Kasriel, a vice president in Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, wrote in the memo: “While we remain confident in the privacy protections we put in place at launch… we have heard your concerns about personal data on work devices, battery life, and wanting more control over when capturing happens.”
Virginia Doellgast, a professor of employee relations at Cornell University, raised concerns about data privacy and consent. She noted that workers are producing additional value for their employers without compensation or choice to opt out, and that screen capture software could capture personal data, highlighting weak data privacy rights in the US compared to other countries.
