Employees at Meta Platforms (META) have had enough of “mouse tracking” at work.
Claim 55% Off TipRanks
- Unlock hedge fund-level data and powerful investing tools for smarter, sharper decisions
- Discover top-performing stock ideas and upgrade to a portfolio of market leaders with Smart Investor Picks
Staff at several of Meta’s U.S. offices distributed flyers on May 12 to protest against the company’s recent installation of mouse-tracking software on their computers, according to multiple media reports. The flyers appeared in meeting rooms, on vending machines, and atop toilet paper dispensers at the offices.
The pamphlets encourage staffers to sign an online petition against having their mouse strokes recorded by the company to help train artificial intelligence (AI) models. “Don’t want to work at the Employee Data Extraction Factory?” asked the pamphlets.
Criticisms of Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms has received a lot of criticism over its mouse-tracking technology. “If we’re building agents to help people complete everyday tasks using computers, our models need real examples of how people actually use them — things like mouse movements, clicking buttons, and navigating dropdown menus,” said the company in response to those criticisms.
The explanation from the social media giant appears to have been insufficient for staff. The pamphlets and the petition circulated at Meta’s offices cite the U.S. National Labor Relations Act and say: “Workers are legally protected when they choose to organize for the improvement of working conditions.”
Is META Stock a Buy?
The stock of Meta Platforms has a consensus Strong Buy rating among 38 Wall Street analysts. That rating is based on 31 Buy and seven Hold recommendations issued in the last three months. The average META price target of $817.71 implies 36% upside from current levels.
