Meta pauses employee monitoring after internal protest

Meta introduced the Model Capability Initiative (MCI), a system that records keyboard input, mouse movements and occasional screenshots on company devices to gather data for training AI models. The program, rolled out to U.S. staff in April, faced strong internal opposition, with a petition signed by more than 1,500 employees citing privacy concerns, battery drain and excessive data usage.

In response, Meta’s Superintelligence Labs announced that employees can now pause the monitoring for up to 30 minutes each day and may submit exemption requests. The software has also been adjusted to consume less power and bandwidth. European workers are excluded from the data collection because the GDPR prohibits mass employee surveillance without proper safeguards. The change comes as Meta continues a larger restructuring that includes thousands of job cuts and a planned reduction of about 10 % of its workforce.

Meta maintains that the collected data will be used solely for AI training and that safeguards exist for sensitive information, but critics say the lack of anonymisation guarantees and external oversight remains a concern.