Here’s the thing: Social media isn’t just a place to drop a random hot take or a vacation selfie anymore. In the Wild West of artificial intelligence, those posts might get swept up to fuel the very tech you interact with. Your deeply thought-out Facebook statuses, LinkedIn work updates, or even Snapchat selfies can end up training AI models, fine-tuning chatbots, or making your likeness part of an ad campaign. Pretty dystopian, huh?
But let’s break it down and, more importantly, figure out how to avoid having your digital footprint recruited into the AI army. Several major platforms have implemented ways to opt out—although let’s be honest, sometimes it feels more like jumping through hoops. Here’s how to reclaim your data (well, mostly).
LinkedIn, the professional social network, is actually your resume’s worst enemy when it comes to AI. They’ve introduced a way to opt out of having your content used to train AI models—because yes, even your list of soft skills could be teaching AI how to respond to customer complaints.
To opt-out:
- Go to Settings & Privacy.
- Hit Data Privacy.
- Look for Data for Generative AI Improvement and switch it off.
However, LinkedIn isn’t sending a time machine your way—your past content might still have already done its AI training rounds.
X (Formerly Twitter)
Elon Musk’s platform wants to train its AI chatbot, Grok, to use your spicy takes. You have to manually opt-out if you don’t want your tweet history fueling Musk’s dream of humor-loaded AI.
To do that:
- Open Settings.
- Go to Privacy and Safety.
- Find the Grok tab under Data Sharing and Personalization, and uncheck that sneaky box.
If your account is private, congrats—you’re already in the clear!
Snapchat
Snapchat’s “My Selfie” feature isn’t just for fun filters—it can also be used to turn your face into AI-generated ads (only visible to you, but still, a bit unsettling). If you don’t want your face ending up in AI’s portfolio, there’s an opt-out, but it’s buried in the terms of service.
To turn off those AI ads:
- Navigate to Settings.
- Head to My Account, then My Selfie.
- Disable See My Selfie in Ads.
Remember, you opt into this feature to start with, but if you’ve already done that, you might want to double-check.
Public posts on Reddit are a goldmine for AI training, with Google and OpenAI already knocking on Reddit’s door. Sadly, if you post in public communities, there’s no escape. Private messages and private communities, however, are off-limits—so at least your unfiltered rants to close friends are safe. For now.
Meta (Facebook and Instagram)
Meta’s AI training on public posts includes everything from that one time you rage-commented on a meme to your latest thirst trap. To avoid Meta’s AI from getting its hands on your stuff, make your accounts private.
And don’t forget: Even if you’re not on Facebook, a friend might post a photo with you in it, and Meta can still use that for AI training. So, you might need to talk with your overly tag-happy friends.
So, what’s the takeaway?
Social media posts are the fuel powering AI, and unless you take some manual steps, you’re contributing to it. You may not be able to get back everything AI already learned from your posts, but opting out now is like hitting the pause button on the wild ride your data has been on.
It’s worth asking yourself: Do you want your LinkedIn achievements, Snapchat selfies, or Instagram captions teaching AI how to be more…human? Because spoiler alert—it’s already happening.
