What Is Mouse-Tracking Software That Has Fumed Meta Employees In US: 'Don't Want To Work...'

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Employees at Meta's offices in the United States (US) were met with an unusual sight on Tuesday as pamphlets criticising the company's workplace monitoring software appeared across meeting rooms, vending machines and even bathroom walls.

The flyers carried the same message:“Don't want to work at the Employee Data Extraction Factory?” According to Reuters, the pamphlets directed workers to an online petition demanding that Facebook's owne discontinue the software programme. The material also referenced the National Labor Relations Act, which protects employees organising for improved workplace conditions.

What is mouse-tracking software?

The protest centres around Meta's internal monitoring tool called the Model Capability Initiative (MCI), which the company reportedly began installing on employees' work laptops in the US last month.

Also Read | Bigger than Tesla, Meta: Meet the $2-trillion tech giant most people barely know

The software tracks mouse movements, clicks, keystrokes and periodic screenshots while workers use selected applications such as Gmail, GChat, VSCode and Meta's in-house AI assistant, Metamate. The collected information is then used to train Meta's AI systems to better understand how humans interact with computer interfaces, including navigating menus and using shortcuts.

However, the rollout has triggered unease among employees, particularly because it comes ahead of major layoffs. Meta is expected to reduce nearly 10 per cent of its workforce on May 20, affecting around 8,000 employees out of its total workforce of about 78,865.

Also Read | Meta pays ₹10 lakh fine, then fights the label for Facebook

Several workers reportedly believe the company is using employee activity data to train AI agents that could eventually replace human roles.

Viral internal post sparks wider debate

Concerns over privacy and AI training gained further attention after an internal post by a Meta engineer reportedly received views from nearly 20,000 employees.

“Selfishly, I don't want my screen scraped because it feels like an invasion of my privacy,” the engineer wrote, according to Wired.

“But zooming out, I don't want to live in a world where humans-employees or otherwise-are exploited for their training data.”

The petition opposing the software has reportedly been circulating since last Thursday. Employees in Meta offices across California and New York have also been putting up posters in common areas and bathrooms to encourage colleagues to support the campaign.

According to Wired, some posters have been removed by the company, although materials placed inside bathrooms have reportedly remained visible for longer periods.

Also Read | Meta shares slump 10% as AI spending concerns overshadow Q1 beat

Apart from public protests, some employees are said to be resisting the initiative more quietly by delaying the installation of the software and ignoring repeated notifications asking them to activate it.

Meta defends monitoring programme

Despite the criticism, Meta has continued to defend the programme. Company spokesperson Andy Stone said the organisation requires“real examples of how people actually use” computers in order to improve its AI systems, while also claiming that safeguards exist to protect sensitive information.

"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," Stone was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth reportedly took a firmer stance when responding to employee questions about opting out of the system. Asked on an internal thread whether workers could refuse participation, he replied that there was no option to opt out on company-issued laptops.

MENAFN18052026007365015876ID1111130788