That’s Meta AI–an artificial intelligence-powered assistant that is the company’s rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini chatbots.

Meta AI was launched in India in June 2024 and within two months, has managed to hold the largest market share in the country, said its chief financial officer Susan Li during the company’s second quarter earnings call on August 1.

“People have used Meta AI for billions of queries since we first introduced it. We’re seeing particularly promising signs on WhatsApp in terms of retention and engagement, which has coincided with India becoming our largest market for Meta AI usage” said Li.

Meta AI’s Growing Presence

Meta has 378.05 million users in India alone, its largest in the world, and it has taken only two months for its AI chatbot to penetrate deeply into the Indian market. 

Meta AI can assist in shopping, recipe recommendations, solving complex maths problems and generating new images based on text prompts. However, the backbone of these AI capabilities lies in data, particularly drawn from your Facebook and Instagram activity.

According to Meta, its AI assistant can’t read your private messages on Instagram or WhatsApp, unless you rope it in a chat using the ‘@Meta AI’ tag. 

The company has also made it clear that only public user photos posted on Facebook and Instagram would be used for AI training and the private stuff would be left alone.

But there have been concerns raised regarding how the personal and non-personal data generated by Meta platforms and other similar social media platforms will be protected.

It's not exactly fresh news that Meta has been gathering data from Indian users across its platforms. Whether it's information you've made public or shared with Meta AI, it's likely already been used to tailor ads and train their Llama AI models.

Currently, the data generated by Indian users on Meta platforms is processed in Singapore. This involves cross-border data transfer, where data collected in India is sent to another country for processing and storage.

In the European Union, protection provided by its stringent General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) follows the data wherever it goes, even outside the EU. The GDPR has been a significant barrier for Meta in the European market, which is one of the reasons why Meta AI has still not been launched there.

The Irish Data Protection Authority (DPA), on behalf of European DPAs, requested Meta pause its plans to train AI based on public posts from its users.

"We are committed to bringing Meta AI, along with the models that power it, to more people around the world, including in Europe. But, 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," said Meta in a blog post.

In the US, California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) also imposes strict limits on data sharing and usage, reflecting a global trend toward tighter data privacy regulations. 

India Now Has Limited Control Over Data 

The Indian government currently has limited control over how Indians' data is processed and used, as it falls under the jurisdiction of the destination country’s laws and regulations.

However, this situation may change soon due to two things. First being that Meta will likely open its first data centre at the Reliance Industry’s Campus in Chennai. 

This announcement coincided with Zuckerberg's visit to India for Anant Ambani’s pre-wedding celebrations in Jamnagar, Gujarat, adding a layer of high-profile attention to the deal. 

While the opening of a data centre opens up the possibility that India’s data will remain in India, setting aside the sustainability question around power-hungry data centres, there are still significant concerns about data protection. 

Which brings us to our second change.

The Much-Anticipated DPDP Act

People are concerned about an absent law that could protect people’s personal data. We do have the Data Protection and Privacy (DPDP) Act, but it is still in the process of being enacted into law. 

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is in the process of formulating rules around certain themes in the Act. Experts say that the law in its totality won’t be prescriptive, but principle-based.

Which means that the law is likely to establish broad guidelines and principles for data protection rather than setting strict, detailed rules for every possible scenario.

This approach allows flexibility and leeway to big tech companies in how they comply with the regulations. It contrasts with more stringent data protection laws like the GDPR, which is highly prescriptive and specific in its requirements.

“The sentiment within MeitY is that they have done a decent job. But the advent of AI and deep fakes have thrown things off a bit. And there is also the delay in formation of the rules,” a senior lawyer, who advises firms on digital laws, told The Secretariat. “Overall, the industry is happy as there will be much more ease of doing business.”

Will India Become A ‘Data Cow’?

India has become a major focus for global tech companies, including Meta, which are eager to tap into the country's vast data resources and significant amount of digital activity.

But as India considers and addresses important questions around data privacy, protection, and the equitable distribution of benefits from data, experts fear that the most populous nation in the world will become a 'data cow.' 

The term ‘data cow’ can be used to describe a country that generates a vast amount of data, which is then harvested and utilised by companies and other entities.

The Secretariat reached out to Meta for a comment. This story will be updated once we receive a response.