Meta scales back employee mouse‑tracking program after staff protests

Meta announced it is scaling back a program that collected employees' mouse movements, clicks and keystrokes for AI training. An internal memo from Stephane Kasriel, vice‑president of Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, said staff can now pause data collection for up to 30 minutes at a time and may request full exemptions. The company also added software optimisations to reduce battery drain and internet‑usage spikes that had been reported by remote workers.

The change follows weeks of employee backlash, including a petition signed by more than 1,500 staff, flyers in offices and comparisons of the initiative to an “Employee Data Extraction Factory.” The tracking software was initially rolled out on U.S.‑based employees’ laptops as part of Meta’s Model Capability Initiative, which the firm says is essential for building AI agents that can perform computer tasks autonomously. Meta declined to comment on the memo, and the move may intersect with heightened regulatory scrutiny in the European Union.

Overall, Meta retains confidence in its privacy safeguards but has acknowledged employee concerns about personal data, device performance and the desire for greater control over data capture.