Meta to allow staff breaks from keylogging data grab scheme
Jump to main content
Search
REG AD
ai & ml
Benevolent dictator Zuck will give Meta staff 30-minute breaks from keylogging privacy assault
Tech biz teaching AI to use computers by slurping staff activity
Connor Jones
Connor<br>Jones
Cybersecurity reporter
Published<br>thu 4 Jun 2026 // 17:28 UTC
Meta is reportedly backtracking on, or at least weakening, its plans to implement enhanced employee workplace monitoring following staff protests.<br>According to the latest internal memo on the matter, first reported by Reuters, Meta is still planning to capture employees’ keystrokes as previously understood, but it will allow Metalings to switch off the monitoring for 30-minute periods, and request a total exemption.<br>The memo was distributed to staff on Tuesday by Stephane Kasriel, veep at the company’s Superintelligence Labs AI division.
REG AD
Kasriel said that, in addition to allowing staff to take half-hour privacy breaks, when the software is hoovering up their data, it will at least do it in a less resource-demanding manner.
REG AD
Some staffers were complaining about the battery drain on their devices incurred by the initiative, while remote workers reported undue strain on their home internet usage.<br>The Register contacted Meta for a response but it did not reply, as was the case when we previously asked it to comment on the scheme around six weeks ago. According to reports in late April, the software now running on employee machines is part of what Meta calls the Model Capability Initiative.<br>The program’s goal is to capture workers’ keystrokes, mouse movements and screenshots of their devices at various points, all so Meta can build AI agents that better understand how humans use computers.<br>The irony of the people who help one of the internet’s most prolific data gluttons now being snooped on themselves is not lost on us.
MORE CONTEXT
Magnificent irony as Meta staff unhappy about running surveillance software on work PCs
Zuck defends monitoring employees to win AI race in purported leaked audio
Those spared latest Meta job cuts forcibly reassigned to AI roles
UK copper fired after faking keyboard taps using photo frame
Leaked audio recordings of an internal Meta meeting from April 30 revealed CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s attitude toward capturing all this information when he said it was in pursuit of building advanced AI models quicker than competitors.<br>“We are using this to feed a very large amount of content into the AI model, so that way it can learn how smart people use computers to accomplish tasks,” Zuckerberg purportedly said, per the recording leaked by worker advocacy group More Perfect Union. “I think that this is going to be a very big advantage if we can do it.”<br>Throughout Zuck’s six-minute monologue, he repeatedly referred to Meta staff as “smart people". Whether this was to soften the blow of constant monitoring, to seem personable amid mass layoffs, or both, is anyone's guess.
REG AD
Zuck said Meta chose to capture data from its own people rather than outside contractors because they were smarter than the workers they could bring in on a temporary basis.<br>The CEO confirmed Meta had no intention of using the data captured by the monitoring software to surveil employees’ activity or productivity, although he didn’t commit to saying the data would be anonymized. ®
workplace privacy<br>meta<br>keylogging<br>employee monitoring<br>ai<br>ai and ml
REG AD
SPONSORED LINKS<br>Building the New Trust Architecture for AI - Watch Now
AI AND ML
'It would be good for the world' to slow down AI sprints, Anthropic says
The plea for caution comes the same week it beat AI archrival OpenAI to filing for an IPO
CYBER-CRIME
Pink is the latest goon squad to use fake helpdesk calls to steal creds
A familiar tactic popularized by chaotic crime crew Lapsus$
ZTE and partners nurture global ICT talent through 2026 engineering capacity building program
Global ICT experts gather in Shenzhen to master cutting-edge engineering practices and foster international collaboration
AI and ML
Canada wants to make its own AI, break free from US bots
Another ally questions reliance on American AI
SaaS
AWS reportedly to tuck Elon Musk's Grok into Bedrock, despite zero enterprise demand
The energy drink of frontier models
Security
OpenAI's agent chained decade-old DoS attacks to crash web servers in seconds
Codex drops an HTTP/2 Bomb
MOST POPULAR
AI and ML
Netflix wiz creates app to slash AI bills, then open sources it
Security
Disgruntled 0-day hunter 'humiliated' by Microsoft pledges 'bone shattering drop' as Redmond calls cops
Security
Troops’ phones gave away location data to foreign adversaries
SECURITY
All the passwords were stored in Active Directory description fields
Personal tech
California passes bill declaring death-by-algorithm to 3D-printed ghost guns
EVENTS
Overcoming the trade-offs in data sovereignty
What does data sovereignty actually...