Short answer: On 5 November 2026 ABC News reported that Australians can object to Meta using their Facebook and Instagram posts to train its generative AI, through a form that has been available locally since July 2025 and in the EU since 2024. Meta did not announce the Australian change. According to Meta, as reported by ABC, a submitted form is followed by an email confirming that public data will not be used for future training; private accounts, private messages and accounts listed as under 18 are already excluded. The same form is not guaranteed in every country. An objection does not un-train a model that may already have used older public posts. A TimeBind cannot opt you out of a platform. It can date the original photo or file you kept, so you still have a checkable copy that is independent of the feed.
Last checked 12 November 2026. General information for creators, photographers and anyone who posts on Instagram or Facebook, not legal, privacy or consumer-rights advice. Availability of Meta’s objection form depends on your country and can change. Check the Privacy Center in your own account. TimeBinder does not change Meta’s settings, does not detect whether a post was used in training, and a dated record is not proof that a file was kept out of a model.
Some links to other tools on this page are affiliate links, marked “affiliate link”. If you buy through one, TimeBinder may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Tools are chosen on merit, with caveats. See our affiliate disclosure.
Table of Contents
What was reported
On 5 November 2026, ABC News national technology reporter Ange Lavoipierre wrote that Meta had quietly introduced a way for Australians to stop the company training its AI on their user data, without announcing the change. Digital Rights Watch’s Tom Sulston told ABC that people have to dig through privacy and support pages, and that Meta has not been doing outreach to users.
ABC reported that the objection form has been available in the EU since 2024, and confirmed it became available in Australia in July 2025, without a separate announcement or reports of direct user notification. The piece also recaps the mid-2024 reaction when it was reported that Meta was using photos, posts and comments going back to 2007, and that Australians were then told they could not opt out in the way EU residents could.
ABC cited previous OAIC guidance that publicly available information is not automatically lawful to use for AI training, and an OAIC spokesperson said the office had been considering how Australian privacy law applies, had engaged with Meta and other platforms, and intended to publish the results of its investigations in the coming months. Meta was approached for comment. The version of the article we read did not include a published finding.
The same day, ABC News posted a short video on the same subject, which had 12,027 views when we checked it on 12 November 2026. Wider interest was already visible: She Prepares’ 27 October 2026 video had 2,201,817 views, and Halleyvision’s 25 October artist-facing video had 68,790 views. Those videos are demand evidence, not sources of setting names. The steps below follow ABC, UK collecting society DACS, and Meta’s own public pages.
What the objection form does, and what it does not
Treat this as a platform process, not as a right that works the same way everywhere.
- Where it appears. DACS describes a path of Settings & privacy → Privacy Centre → AI at Meta, then “Submit an objection request” or “Right to object,” filed separately for each account. ABC likewise points to a logged-in form and an email confirmation. Menu names move: use what your own Privacy Center shows.
- Country matters. DACS says Meta states it will honour these objections in the UK, EU/EEA or similar jurisdictions, and that the same level of objection may not be offered elsewhere. ABC reports the form is now available in Australia. We did not verify a universal US opt-out. A public “I do not consent” post is not a substitute; DACS is explicit that those posts do nothing legally.
- Future, not past. ABC, reporting Meta, says the confirmation email is that public data will not be used to train Meta’s AI in the future. An objection now does not, on the sources we read, take older public posts out of a model already trained.
- Already excluded, according to Meta as reported by ABC: private accounts, private messages, and accounts listed as under 18. A fully private creator account is often not a workable substitute if you need a public portfolio.
- Third-party information is a different form. Meta also publishes a contact form for requests about personal information from third parties used for AI at Meta. That is not the same as an account-level objection for your posts.
Meta’s page “How Meta uses information for generative AI models” is the official starting point. Read that page, and the privacy policy it points to, in your own account and region before relying on a third-party screenshot.
What to keep if you post work on Instagram or Facebook
Whether or not a form is available where you live, the useful habit is ordinary record-keeping:
- Keep the camera or working original, not only the upload. The file you post is often resized, cropped or recompressed. The RAW, a high-resolution export, or the layered working file is the one worth dating and storing somewhere you control.
- Keep the confirmation. If you submit an objection, save the confirmation email and a dated copy of what you sent (the form text, the date, and which account it was for). A screenshot of a settings page is weaker than the email Meta says it will send, but it is better than memory.
- Keep an export of what you posted, if you need a record of the public version. Platform exports are not a substitute for the original, but they can show what was public on a given date.
- Store the originals in more than one place. A feed is not a backup. A simple example is a folder on Proton Drive (affiliate link) or on an external drive, plus a dated record of the exact files. A cloud folder is still only as durable as the account and the provider’s terms.
Cloaking tools, EU text-and-data-mining opt-outs and lower-resolution posting are separate jobs: see our Glaze, Nightshade and legal opt-outs guide and how to protect art from AI scraping when you post online.
What a TimeBind does and does not show
A TimeBind is a dated, checkable record that an exact file existed no later than a recorded time and still matches. The SHA-256 fingerprint is made in your browser and the file is never uploaded. The record is anchored to Bitcoin (a Merkle root in an OP_RETURN). Your first Pooled TimeBind is free; after that, TimeBinds start from US$5, and an ASAP TimeBind is US$15. See how it works.
In this setting, a TimeBind is useful for the original you kept: you can later show that this exact file existed no later than the recorded time and still matches. That can matter if a later image in a model, a feed or a dispute is compared with the file you say you had.
A TimeBind does not opt you out of Meta, does not show whether a post was used in training, does not show who created a work, and does not create a copyright or an ownership right. It also does not detect AI-generated lookalikes of your pictures.
Limits
Platform settings change. A path that works in the EU, the UK or Australia in November 2026 may be labelled differently, limited, or absent in another country. We have not opened every regional form, and this page is not a guarantee that Meta will accept a request. An objection, where it is honoured, is described as covering future training of public account content. It is not a takedown of other models, a licence that binds third-party scrapers, or a finding about any one image.
Tools that can help
Start with Meta’s Privacy Center and the confirmation email, if you get one. Keep originals off the feed: Proton Drive (affiliate link) is one end-to-end encrypted cloud option; an external drive is another. A TimeBind dates a specific file; it is not a backup system. Content Credentials are a different tool: see the C2PA field guide. Photographers can also use the photos and video hub; other creators the creators hub. If you also keep a LinkedIn profile, LinkedIn has a separate official setting: see how to opt out of LinkedIn using your data for AI training.
Frequently Asked Questions
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If I live in the United States, can I opt out?
Not as a general rule we can state. DACS notes that the formal UK and EU objection may not be offered at the same level elsewhere. ABC’s reporting is about Australia and the EU. Check your own Privacy Center. A public disclaimer on a post is not a substitute.
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If I object now, does Meta remove my work from models already trained?
Not on the sources we read. ABC, reporting Meta, says the confirmation is that public data will not be used for future training. Past training is a different question, and we did not see Meta describe a way to un-train a model.
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Does making my account private do the same thing?
Meta, as reported by ABC, says private accounts are already excluded from this training, as are private messages and under-18 accounts. For a working artist who needs a public grid, privacy is often not a practical replacement for an objection, where one exists.
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Does a TimeBind stop Instagram using my photos?
No. A TimeBind does not change a platform’s settings and does not block scraping or training. It records that an exact file existed by a date and still matches.
Sources checked
- Ange Lavoipierre, “How to opt out of Meta using your Facebook and Instagram posts for AI training,” ABC News, 5 November 2026, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-11-05/meta-facebook-instagram-changes-using-data-to-train-ai/107335708
- Meta, “How Meta uses information for generative AI models,” https://www.facebook.com/privacy/genai/ (read 12 November 2026)
- Meta, “Data Subject Rights for Third Party Information Used for AI at Meta” contact form, https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/510058597920541
- DACS, “Protecting your work from AI training: why it matters and how to take control,” https://www.dacs.org.uk/advice/articles/protecting-your-work-from-ai-training (read 12 November 2026)
Date the original before you post it
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Related: TikTok and Instagram AI labels: what short-form creators should keep.
Related: VSCO says it will not train generative AI on your photos: what creators should keep.
