In a government inquiry about AI adoption in Australia, Meta's global privacy director Melinda Claybaugh was asked whether her company has been collecting Australians' data to train its generative AI technology. According to ABC News, Claybaugh initially denied the claim, but upon being pressed, she ultimately admitted that Meta scrapes all the photos and texts in all Facebook and Instagram posts from as far back as 2007, unless the user had set their posts to private. Further, she admitted that the company isn't offering Australians an opt-out option like it does to users in the European Union. Claybaugh said that Meta doesn't scrape the accounts of users under 18 years old, but she admitted that the company still collects their photos and other information if they're posted on their parents' or guardians' accounts. She couldn't answer, however, if the company collects data from previous years once a user turns 18. Upon being asked why Meta doesn't offer Australians the option not to consent to data collection, Claybaugh said that it exists in the EU "in response to a very specific legal frame," which most likely pertains to the bloc's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).