Meta’s employee tracking tool sparks EU privacy concerns over AI training use

Meta platforms have geared up to monitor and evaluate everyday employees' activities against EU rules and launched new tools to track their working and performance.

The world's leading tech and social media giant plans to collect detailed records of U.S. employees’ computer usage for training its AI models that are more extensive than initially described and set to capture non-U.S. data in the process.

As reported by Reuters, the documents introduce fresh complications for the project—a key component of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s broader plan to transform how the company operates around AI agents that could draw Meta into a new European ‌privacy fight.

The Facebook and Instagram owner told staff last month it was launching the tool to capture how people use computers, including mouse movements, clicks, and navigation through dropdown menus, in order to build AI agents that can perform everyday software tasks autonomously.

The tool, called the Model Capability Initiative, or MCI, is pulling in data from more than 200 apps and websites, according to a list Meta shared with staffers.

The company said it would impact only U.S. employees and that safeguards were in place to protect sensitive information.

In the weeks since its launch, however, Meta employees have complained that MCI was consuming so much data that it was causing their home internet usage to spike, in some cases using up an entire month’s quota within days.

Whereas the findings could deepen Meta’s regulatory troubles in the European Union, where tech companies are facing heated legal clashes over how they collect and deploy data.

While U.S. workers have few protections against employer surveillance, companies operating under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation must have a legal basis for processing personal data, disclose what is collected, and meet strict conditions for especially sensitive data like health information.

In Meta’s FAQ document on MCI, one entry addressed the tracking from the perspective of a non-U.S. employee: “I'm based outside the U.S. Will my conversations or data be captured if I'm communicating with a U.S.-based colleague who has the tool enabled?”

The company's response: “If a U.S.-based colleague has the tool enabled while gchatting or emailing with someone outside the U.S., that activity would be captured.”