BRUSSELS, June 6 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms ( META ) was

hit with 11 complaints on Thursday over proposed changes that

would see it use personal data to train its artificial

intelligence models without asking for consent, which may breach

European Union privacy rules.

Advocacy group NOYB (none of your business) urged national

privacy watchdogs to act immediately to halt such use, saying

recent changes in Meta's privacy policy, which come into force

on June 26, would allow it to use years of personal posts,

private images or online tracking data for its AI technology.

NOYB has already filed several complaints against Meta and

other Big Tech companies over alleged breaches of the EU's

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which threatens fines

up to 4% of a company's total global turnover for violations.

Meta has cited a legitimate interest for using users' data

to train and develop its generative AI models and other AI

tools, which can be shared with third parties.

NOYB founder Max Schrems said in a statement that Europe's

top court had already ruled on the issue in 2021.

"The European Court of Justice (CJEU) has already made it

clear that Meta has no 'legitimate interest' to override users'

right to data protection when it comes to advertising," he said.

"Yet the company is trying to use the same arguments for the

training of undefined 'AI technology'. It seems that Meta is

once again blatantly ignoring the judgements of the CJEU,"

Schrems said, adding that opting out was extremely complicated.

"Shifting the responsibility to the user is completely

absurd. The law requires Meta to get opt-in consent, not to

provide a hidden and misleading opt-out form," Schrems said,

adding: "If Meta wants to use your data, they have to ask for

your permission. Instead, they made users beg to be excluded".

NOYB asked data protection authorities in Austria, Belgium,

France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands,

Norway, Poland and Spain to launch an urgency procedure because

of the imminent changes.