Exclusive: Meta tool to track employee mouse clicks on collision course with EU privacy rules
Exclusive: Meta tool to track employee mouse clicks on collision course with EU privacy rules
Publish Date: 2026-05-29 13:43:00
Source Domain: www.reuters.com
- Meta acknowledges its MCI tool can capture EU employee communications
- Privacy advocates warn that even limited tracking of EU data could violate GDPR
- MCI tool tracks more than 200 apps and websites, spiking employees’ home internet usage
NEW YORK/AMSTERDAM, May 29 (Reuters) – Meta Platforms’ (META.O) plan to collect detailed records of U.S. employees’ computer usage for training its AI models is more extensive than initially described and set to capture non-U.S. data in the process, according to internal documentation seen 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, rights groups told Reuters.
Sign up here.
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 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, according to internal posts seen by Reuters.
Meta also acknowledged in a question-and-answer document provided to employees that the tool would capture the contents of any emails or direct messages sent to U.S. personnel, regardless of the sender’s location.
In a statement, Meta spokesperson Dave Arnold said MCI was installed only on U.S. employees’ devices and that its…
