Pundits accuse Zuckerberg’s latest app of having a “dark pattern,” tricking the over 50s into oversharing.
The Meta AI app’s public feed is full of private, personal, identifiable information. And why are people sharing this stuff in public? Because they don’t realize that’s what the Share button does, apparently.
Of course, that’s not what the Share button does in any other app. In today’s SB Blogwatch, we undershare and overlap.
Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: Fame is Toxic.
More Meta Mess
What’s the craic? Chris Stokel-Walker reports: Meta’s AI social feed is a privacy disaster waiting to happen
“Slow-motion privacy disaster”
Interacting with AI has felt like using a digital confession booth—private, intimate, and shielded from public view. … That’s about to change dramatically with Meta’s rollout of social features in its stand-alone AI app. … Those quiet queries—“What’s this embarrassing rash?” or “How can I tell my wife I don’t love her anymore?”—could soon be visible to anyone.
…
This isn’t a hypothetical concern. Posts from Meta AI users are already surfacing in the app’s social feed, … like one user’s question about folic acid, which also revealed her age and postmenopausal status. The Discover feed is shaping up to be a slow-motion privacy disaster. … Meta did not respond to [my] request for comment.
For example? Kylie Robinson exemplifies caution: The Meta AI App Lets You ‘Discover’ People’s Bizarrely Personal Chats
“Struggles with bowel movements”
— “What counties [sic] do younger women like older white men,” a public message … on Meta’s AI platform says. “I need details, I’m 66 and single. I’m from Iowa and open to moving to a new country if I can find a younger woman.” …
— One user asked the AI chatbot to provide a format for terminating a renter’s tenancy. …
— Another asked it to provide an academic warning notice that provides personal details including the school’s name.
— Another person asked about their sister’s liability in potential corporate tax fraud in a specific city using an account that ties to an Instagram profile that displays a first and last name.
— Someone else asked it to develop a character statement to a court which also provides a myriad of personally identifiable information both about the alleged criminal and the user himself.
— There are also many instances of medical questions, including people divulging their struggles with bowel movements, asking for help with their hives, and inquiring about a rash on their inner thighs. …
— Others reveal locations, telephone numbers, and other sensitive information, all tied to user names and profile photos.
What’s really going on here? Our friend James Maguire explains: Can Meta’s New AI App Top ChatGPT?
“Users can choose to distribute the results of their AI queries”
Meta AI … will compete in a market already crowded with AI apps. Yet the social media giant’s app wields powerful advantages, including … a sharing feature that turns AI usage into a friends and family group activity.
…
Meta AI, unlike the other leading AI apps, offers a social feed—called the Discover feed—so users can choose to distribute the results of their AI queries with connected users. The app casts sharing AI results as an enjoyable activity akin to sharing traditional content—in other words, there’s no longer a need to take a photo or write text. The social feed allows users to “discover all sorts of fun ways that people are creating stuff with Meta AI.”
Conspiracy or faux pas? btown knows which side their bread is buttered:
From Google Docs to ChatGPT to Notion, there’s a clear distinction between, “Make this a shareable link to only those who have the link,” and, “also make that shareable link searchable/discoverable by the public.” If Meta is turning that “searchability/discoverability” on by default when a share button is activated on an AI chat … that would both explain the confusion, and be a terribly unexpected dark pattern. … A ‘share’ icon is not informed consent.
But it’s not as if Meta has a long history of privacy problems. Oh, wait. OccamsMallet beats us over the head:
When Zuckerberg said “move fast and break things”, we didn’t realise he meant children’s mental health and civil society. These companies have a single objective: … monetising their users via their personal data. Everything else is window dressing, and as Musk has shown, their lawyers … are bigger than ours.
Is it time for a colorful metaphor? Sarusa gleefully obliges:
Well sure. That’s Facebook. … The entire purpose of anything they make is to stab their slobbering proboscis deep into your deepest parts and suck them dry.
…
They pioneered data theft and dark UI for the entire internet as it exists today. You wouldn’t have TikTok as it exists without Facebook blazing the way down to hell. [This] needs repeating because there are so many people who don’t get this. I meet them every week.
But who on Earth is using it? Older people, according to danthescienceman:
Gen X and Boomers really love AI. I think they use it way more than younger people. Some elder folks I know who never really got into the habit of using search engines are now using AI to answer basic “Googleable” questions. I don’t think this is good, but it’s just my personal observation. So that’s why Facebook wants in on it.
Boomers? OK. Justine Moore agrees:
The feed is almost entirely boomers who seem to have no idea their conversations with the chatbot are posted publicly. … There is essentially zero overlap between people who are tech literate … and people who use this. … I spent an hour browsing the app, and saw:
— Medical and tax records,
— Private details on court cases,
— Draft apology letters for crimes,
— Home addresses,
— Confessions of affairs,
— [A] man who tries to use the app to find a woman with a “big booty and nice rack.” When it won’t post on his behalf in local FB groups, he asks the bot to “delete my number.” Instead, he (accidentally?) shares it publicly.
Outrageous! But paxys urges caution:
A social media company made an AI app that lets users share its results to social media. Shocker! But, sure, let’s … sustain today’s outrage cycle.
Meanwhile, RUs1729 wants to believe:
In other news, … water is wet. Come on! We are talking a Facebook product here. What else could it be but a privacy disaster?
And Finally:
CW: Firearms; tobacco use; alcohol use; gratuitous product placement; Britney’s panties.
You have been reading SB Blogwatch by Richi Jennings. Richi curates the best bloggy bits, finest forums, and weirdest websites—so you don’t have to. Hate mail may be directed to @RiCHi, @richij, @[email protected], @richi.bsky.social or [email protected]. Ask your doctor before reading. Your mileage may vary. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Do not stare into laser with remaining eye. E&OE. 30.
Image sauce: Anthony Quintano (cc:by; leveled and cropped)
