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Meta eases employee keystroke, mouse-tracking program after backlash
03 Jun 2026

Meta has announced changes to its employee mouse movement and keystroke tracking initiative, following a wave of internal criticism.

The company will now let workers pause data collection for short periods or request exemptions from the process altogether.

This comes after employees raised concerns over privacy issues related to the tracking system.

Backlash over employee tracking
Employee backlash

In April, Meta had announced its plans to track mouse movements and keystrokes of US-based employees for AI training.

The move drew criticism from some employees who were concerned about their privacy.

Now, the tech giant is reportedly scaling back on this practice, giving workers an option to request an exemption from the tracking process altogether.

Employees can now pause data collection for 30 minutes
Control measures

Stephane Kasriel, VP of Superintelligence Labs at Meta, sent an internal memo detailing the changes to this tracking system.

The memo said employees can now pause data collection for up to 30 minutes at a time. Some may even be exempted from tracking entirely.

Kasriel acknowledged concerns over personal data on work devices, battery life issues, and the need for more control over when capturing happens in his memo.

Mouse tracking initiative part of AI training
Program details

Meta's mouse tracking program, dubbed the Model Capability Initiative (MCI), was launched as part of a larger effort to develop AI agents capable of performing work tasks independently.

The company hoped these agents would learn from human mouse movements and keystrokes.

However, some employees have criticized this move, calling Meta an "Employee Data Extraction Factory."

Exemptions available for select employees
Exemption criteria

The exemption from the MCI program will be available for select employees, including remote workers with bandwidth concerns, those handling sensitive material, and people who often work in places where they cannot easily keep laptops plugged.

However, other US-based Meta employees won't be exempted from this program.

As of now, the company has not shown any interest in implementing MCI for employees based outside the US.