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A meta program to monitor mouse clicks made by employees in violation of EU privacy regulations

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2 months ago

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Internal documents reviewed by ​Reuters show Meta Platforms’ (META.O) effort to collect detailed logs of U.S. workers’ computer activity to train its artificial intelligence models is broader than previously stated and would sweep up non-U.S. information along the way.

The documents present significant challenges for the project – a major part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s bigger strategy to overhaul how the firm functions around AI agents – that might drag Meta into a new European privacy battle, rights groups told Reuters.

Last month the owner of Facebook and Instagram told staff it was introducing the tool to capture how people use computers including mouse movements, clicks and navigation through drop-down menus to construct AI agents that can automatically do routine software jobs.

The program, Model Capability Initiative or MCI, is gathering data from over 200 apps and websites, according to a list Meta shared with colleagues. The cuts will affect only U.S.-based personnel and protections are in place to protect sensitive information, the corporation said.

But in the weeks since the introduction, Meta employees have complained that MCI was using so much data it was generating spikes in their personal internet usage, in some cases devouring an entire month’s limit in just days, according to internal posts obtained by Reuters.

In a question-and-answer paper sent to staff, Meta also said the tool would collect the contents of any email or direct message sent to anybody in the U.S., no matter where the sender was located.

MCI was “not installed on devices used by employees in the U.S.,” and focused on how individuals interacted with their computers, not what was on their screens, Meta spokesperson Dave Arnold said in a statement.

“We told non-U.S. employees in the spirit of transparency that it was used on the computers of U.S. colleagues they might email or chat with in the normal course of business,” Arnold said.

He acknowledged the rough number of apps and websites the program is tracking, but declined to answer questions about how much data it is consuming and whether it is lawful.

“We’ve looked at and taken steps to mitigate any potential privacy concerns during the development of this tool and as we roll it out, and we remain committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations,” he said.

GDPR Compliance Issues Increasing

The findings could add to Meta’s regulatory headaches in the EU, where digital companies are embroiled in fierce legal battles over data collection and use.

U.S. workers rarely have any protection against being monitored by their employer, but companies operating under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation must have a legal basis for processing personal data, disclose what they collect and meet strict conditions for especially sensitive data like health information.

One entry in Meta’s FAQ sheet on MCI was on tracking from the perspective of a non-U.S. employee: “I’m based outside the U.S. “Will my conversations or data be picked up if I’m talking with a U.S.-based colleague who has the tool enabled?”

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

Meta also noted in the FAQ that data acquired by MCI would be “dissociated” from identifying employee information and hence could not be looked up or deleted for individuals, a requirement in Europe.

Kleanthi Sardeli, a legal expert at privacy advocacy organization NOYB (“none of your business”), told Reuters that even minimal or indirect collection of EU employee data might put Meta in breach of GDPR requirements.

She said that key sticking points could include whether the tool’s acquisition of European data is deemed “incidental” or constitutes monitoring under the GDPR, and whether the effort can pass a “purpose limitation” test.

“Such data was originally obtained in the context of work communication and the performance of the employment contract. “Feeding an employee’s chat to an AI model does not align with that initial purpose,” Sardeli said.

Meta notified the Irish Data Protection Commission, the lead EU privacy regulator under GDPR, that neither EU employee data nor the recording of screen content “falls within the primary purpose of the tool,” a DPC representative told Reuters without elaborating.

“We are not going to comment on the company’s exchanges with regulators,” said Arnold, the Meta spokesperson.

BACKLASH FROM EMPLOYEES OVER DATA SCOPE

The MCI project is part of a sweeping reorganisation at Meta that aims to give over big chunks of labour to AI agents. That has led to an intense response among staff, who have compared Meta to a “Employee Data Extraction Factory.”

One employee discussed internal discoveries from a deep dive of MCI log files using Anthropic’s Claude, an AI tool Meta has been nudging employees to incorporate into their job.

The analysis – replicated by others – found that MCI was added to the company’s existing data security software, giving it access to more details including employees’ code changes, their computers’ sleep and wake cycles, URLs visited and any clipboard content they copy and paste, which it then stored less securely in unencrypted form.

The employee said that having that much data would allow the construction of “a complete behavioural model of how a knowledge worker does their job.”

Not ‘an AI that clicks a dropdown for you’ but ‘an AI that knows which dropdown to click, what to pick, which document to paste it into, and what to do next,’ she wrote.
Two additional employees told Reuters that the employee’s post later disappeared.

“The conclusions of the post are fundamentally inaccurate,” said Meta spokeswoman Arnold, who would not answer questions about its assertions or indicate if the firm had taken it down.

The interactions within Meta bolstered why Johnny Ryan, director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties’ Enforce team, believes it is “essential” that the DPC investigate the effort, he told CNN.

“This situation, this case, is not only for Meta employees. It applies to every worker in any industry where they could be replaced. If people know what it is, everybody worries about this,” he said.

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Trump orders a renewed blockade of Iran, and Iran threatens to block more important seaways.

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3 days ago

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July 15, 2026

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– Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has threatened to close “all other export corridors that benefit the US and its allies”, Iranian media reported, after Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz and the US reimposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports.

“Regional energy exports are either shared by all, or denied to all,” the IRGC said in ‌a statement carried by Iran’s IRNA state news agency on Wednesday.

Analysts have said Iran has been signalling it may use its Houthi allies in Yemen to shut the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea, opening a new front against Washington and putting two of the world’s most vital energy arteries at risk.

The narrow gateway links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, through which Saudi oil exports and a substantial share of global shipping pass.

A senior Houthi official warned on Monday that the group was prepared to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait – a move he said could send oil prices soaring to $200 a barrel – if Saudi Arabia continued to attack Yemen, according to a report on Iran’s Press TV website.

Houthi forces fired missiles at Saudi Arabia after accusing ⁠the kingdom of bombing an airport under their control on Monday, breaking a four-year truce in the conflict between the kingdom and the Iran-aligned group.

The Houthis have already shown they can choke global commerce through the Bab el-Mandeb. After the Gaza war erupted in October 2023, the Iran-backed group launched attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, saying it was targeting vessels linked to Israel in support of Palestinians.

The latest threat to global shipping comes a day after the US military said it began a fresh round of strikes “to continue degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”

The United States said Iran had attacked seven commercial ships over the last week, leading to nearly a dozen crew members being killed, missing or injured.

The US military said late on Tuesday that it hit dozens of ​military targets near the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian coastal areas. The wave of strikes lasted seven hours, the US Central Command said in a statement.

‘END OF AMERICA’S EVILS’

The IRGC said on Wednesday that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until what it described as “the end of America’s evils”. Before the war began in February, about a fifth of global oil and gas shipments passed through Hormuz each ‌day.

The Guards ⁠said they had targeted what they described as command-and-control, logistics, fuel and military equipment facilities belonging to the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, in response to the latest US strikes in the Strait of Hormuz.

They also said they had set fire to and destroyed what they described as a US logistics facility in Kuwait’s Mina Abdullah and that their air force had struck what they described as a US base at Azraq in Jordan, targeting aircraft hangars. They said some of the US attacks had been launched from bases on Jordanian territory.

Earlier on Wednesday, Kuwait’s state news agency reported that a fire was brought under control at a site targeted in Iranian attacks. It ⁠was not immediately clear whether the fire was at the same site referred to in the IRGC statement.

Jordan’s air defence intercepted and shot down three ballistic missiles that entered the country’s airspace from Iranian territory early on Wednesday.

The hostilities between Iran and the US re-ignited last week, fraying an already fragile truce reached in June after several months of fighting that has killed thousands.

TRUMP THREATENS TO HIT ENERGY TARGETS

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to hit Iranian ⁠power plants and bridges next week unless Tehran resumes negotiations.

“I’ll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately we’ll hit energy targets,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Trey Yingst.

US negotiators had been in touch with their Iranian counterparts to tell them “you better make a deal”, Trump added.

As tensions escalated, Trump on Monday floated the idea of a 20% fee on shipping through the strait, which drew sharp criticism ⁠from the UN shipping agency and others. On Tuesday, he scrapped the idea and said, without providing details, that he would instead seek investment deals with Gulf states.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday, after closing up 2% to a one-month high on Tuesday, as the latest attacks deepened a supply disruption in the Strait of Hormuz.

For the second straight session, Brent closed at its highest since June 12 and West Texas Intermediate at its highest since June 15. Both contracts rose further in early Wednesday trading.

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IOC requested to look into the FIFA president’s involvement in the reversal of Balogun

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3 days ago

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July 15, 2026

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The International Olympic Committee has received a complaint alleging FIFA president Gianni Infantino has repeatedly breached rules on political neutrality in his support of President Donald Trump.

FairSquare, a nonprofit organisation and advocacy group, asked the IOC to investigate, among several instances, Infantino’s possible involvement in the suspension ​of a one-game ban for striker Folarin Balogun, enabling him to play for the United States in a round of ‌16 match on July 6 against Belgium.

Infantino acknowledged receiving a call from Trump, who publicly lobbied for Balogun to play, but the FIFA president said he did not interfere with the decision-making process.

Balogun played as the USMNT was eliminated 4-1 by Belgium. He had received a direct red card in the 64th minute of a July 1 match for a foul on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Tarik Muharemovic. The US went on to win 2-0 with 10 men in the round of 32, and Balogun was suspended for the next game.

A red card or suspension cannot be appealed. ⁠FIFA, however, posted this message without further explanation to its website on July 5 about its use of the rule book in the case: “By operation of Article 27 FDC, the implementation of the automatic match suspension for USA player Folarin Balogun is suspended for a probationary period of one (1) year.”

“All I did was ask for a review because I didn’t think it was a foul,” Trump said on the day of the game against Belgium. “And, you know, again, I’m good at this stuff. I didn’t think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes that crashed into each other and got entangled.

“I think they made a really brilliant decision. I think the referee’s call was horrible and nobody talks about that. They talk about the red card like it’s fine, nobody talks the referee’s decision to red card.”

Infantino said FIFA’s judicial committees act autonomously in a statement on his behalf on FIFA’s website.

“Their independence ‌is essential ⁠to the credibility and integrity of football, and this must always be respected,” the statement read.

FairSquare, in its complaint, is questioning the credibility and integrity of Infantino, who also became an IOC member in 2020. The organisation said he “is obliged to adhere to strict rules on political neutrality in the Olympic Charter and the IOC Code of Ethics, adding that the IOC can expel members who don’t fulfill these obligations.

“As outlined in the FairSquare ​complaint, there is compelling evidence that ​Infantino has committed five clear breaches ⁠of IOC rules on political neutrality through statements or other clear expressions of support for the US President,” FairSquare posted on its website.

One “serious breach” in the complaint was the Balogun situation with Infantino possibly giving in to pressure from Trump. Another was Infantino promoting a FIFA fan site for the 2026 World Cup, “which appears to have been part ⁠of a data-harvesting campaign run by entities linked to President Trump,” FairSquare wrote.

Another alleged breach was Infantino’s supportive post on his Instagram account after attending an event linked to Trump’s presidential inauguration in January 2025.

Infantino also publicly endorsed Trump for the Nobel Prize in October 2025, and he made more supportive comments ⁠in November. ​In December, Infantino presented Trump with the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize at the World Cup draw at the Kennedy Center.

FairSquare also made a complaint to FIFA’s ethics committee in December, which was supported by the Norwegian football federation as well as 50 members of the ​European Parliament in a separate writing on June 29.

The IOC and FIFA did not respond to requests for comment from multiple media outlets.

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A resolution calls on Punjab to restrict children under the age of sixteen from using social media.

Published

3 days ago

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July 15, 2026

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 Punjab Child Protection and Welfare Bureau Chairperson and Member of the Provincial Assembly Sarah Ahmed has submitted a resolution in the Punjab Assembly seeking restrictions on social media use by children under the age of 16.

The resolution calls for a ban on social media access for children below 16 years of age to protect them from the harmful effects of online platforms.

According to the text of the resolution, Sarah Ahmed also proposed banning the photography and videography of children under the age of 16.

The resolution further appealed to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to formulate an effective legal and regulatory framework to implement the proposed measures.

It also urged practical steps to ensure the psychological and moral protection of children, calling on the PTA to ensure that harmful or inappropriate content targeting children is promptly blocked across all mobile and social media applications.

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