Title: Meta Retreats on Employee Surveillance Program Amid Internal Outcry

By Katie Paul June 2 (Reuters) - Meta has significantly scaled back its controversial initiative to monitor staff computer activity for artificial intelligence training purposes, following sustained resistance from its workforce. In an internal memo released on Tuesday, the company announced new restrictions on the data collection program, which had drawn sharp criticism from employees.

The revised policy grants workers the ability to temporarily suspend data gathering for intervals of up to 30 minutes and provides a mechanism to request exemptions from the surveillance, according to the document. The memo was written by Stephane Kasriel, a vice president within Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, the division responsible for building AI models.

Kasriel noted that the engineering team had implemented "several optimizations" to mitigate the software’s impact on device performance. These adjustments came after staff reported that the tracking tool was draining battery life and causing noticeable spikes in their personal home internet data usage.

"We remain confident in the privacy safeguards we established at launch, which underwent multiple layers of risk assessment," Kasriel wrote. "However, we have heard your concerns regarding personal data on work devices, battery consumption, and the desire for greater control over when data capture occurs."

A Meta representative declined to provide further comment.

The company revealed last month that it was deploying tracking software on computers belonging to U.S.-based employees to record mouse movements, clicks, and keystrokes. This data is intended to train AI models as part of a broader effort to develop autonomous AI agents capable of executing work tasks.

The rollout coincided with a major restructuring at Meta and triggered a fierce backlash from employees. Critics have derisively compared the company to an "Employee Data Extraction Factory."

The incident may also exacerbate Meta’s existing legal challenges in the European Union, where regulators are increasingly scrutinizing how technology firms collect and utilize data, Reuters has previously reported. (Reporting by Katie Paul in New York, Editing by Franklin Paul, David Gregorio, Rod Nickel)

Source: Yahoo News Generated at: 2026-06-04 01:40:21 UTC