Meta is investigating security issues related to internal mouse tracking technology used to track employees and train AI

Meta paused its internal Model Capability Initiative (MCI) after an employee flagged exposure of sensitive data from mouse movements and activity tracking
The program allegedly collected prompts, private conversations, performance data, and even tax/medical information in unencrypted form
Meta says no improper access confirmed but investigating; some employees still watch the show running during the break

Meta pauses an employee tracking program after one of the employees flagged it as revealing sensitive data.

The company behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp apparently ran an internal program that tracked employees’ mouse movements and digital activity. Called the Model Capability Initiative (MCI), this program reportedly started in April with the goal of training Meta’s AI models through employee behavioral recordings.

According to a memo released at the launch, the program aimed to improve the company’s AI models in areas where they struggled to replicate how humans interacted with computers, such as selecting from a drop-down menu or using different keyboard shortcuts.

Personal tax and medical information exposed?

“This is where all Meta employees can help our models improve by simply doing their daily work,” the memo said at the time.

Pakinomist reported that an employee submitted a high-priority security incident report (SEV) over the program’s exposure of employee data, including “full prompts and transcripts, private conversations, personnel and performance data, DSS sensitivity assessments (1-4).” The same publication also said the program collected “more information than originally described” and stored it in unencrypted form.

“I have accessed both personal tax and medical information through my work computer, as have many thousands of employees,” the employee reportedly said. “We were told that this data would be protected and only used for valid business purposes after aggressive filtering.”

Now, Meta confirmed it is pausing the program to investigate these claims.

“We have carefully designed this program with privacy protections in mind, and while we have no indication at this time that any data was improperly accessed by Meta employees, we are pausing it while we investigate,” company spokesperson Tracy Clayton was quoted as saying. The company did not say how long the program will be paused, but stressed that it would take time to stop it for everyone, so some employees may still see it running.

As of Monday afternoon, the program was still running for some people, Pakinomist confirmed.

Via Pakinomist