BRUSSELS, June 14 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms ( META )

will not launch its Meta AI models in Europe for now after the

Irish privacy regulator told it to delay its plan to harness

data from Facebook and Instagram users, the U.S. social media

company said on Friday.

The move by Meta came after complaints and a call by

advocacy group NOYB to data protection authorities in Austria,

Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, the

Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Spain to act against the

company.

At issue is Meta's plan to use personal data to train its

artificial intelligence (AI) models without seeking consent,

although the company has said it would use publicly available

and licensed online information.

Meta on Friday said the Irish privacy watchdog had asked it

to delay training its large language models (LLMs) using public

content shared by Facebook and Instagram adult users.

"We're disappointed by the request from the Irish Data

Protection Commission (DPC), our lead regulator, on behalf of

the European DPAs ... particularly since we incorporated

regulatory feedback and the European DPAs have been informed

since March," the company said in an updated blogpost.

It said the Irish request is a step backwards for European

innovation and competition in AI development.

"Put simply, without including local information we'd only

be able to offer people a second-rate experience. This means we

aren't able to launch Meta AI in Europe at the moment," Meta

said.

The DPC welcomed Meta's pause, saying its decision came

after intensive engagement with the regulator.

Meta said the delayed launch of its AI models would also

allow it to address requests from Britain's Information

Commissioner's Office (ICO).

The ICO welcomed Meta's decision, saying it would continue

to monitor major developers of generative AI, including Meta, to

review the safeguards they have put in place and ensure the

information rights of UK users are protected.

NOYB's chair Max Schrems attributed Meta's temporary halt to

the group's complaints filed last week.

"So far there is no official change of the Meta privacy

policy, which would make this commitment legally binding. The

cases we filed are ongoing and will need a determination," he

said in a statement.