Elon Musk's X Faces Multiple Privacy Complaints in Europe Over Data Use and AI Training

Nine Privacy Complaints Filed On Elon Musk's X For Data Breach

The idea that X has already begun processing users' post data of the region came to light after an X user spotted the setting revealing the same. The revelation did not go down well with the DPC (Irish Data Protection Commission), leading to a surveillance of X's compliance according to GDPR compliance. The authority has initiated legal action in court against portal X to discontinue illegal processing of users' data and enforce GDPR compliance with Twitter. However, by no means, the firm can erase "already ingested data" for X users. In response, the noyb has lodged GDPR complaints in eight countries including Ireland. As per the statement given to media, Max Schrems, Chairman of the nonprofit organization NOYB, said, "We have seen countless instances if inefficient and partial enforcement by the DPC in the past years. We want to ensure that Twitter fully complies with EU law, which - at a bare minimum - requires to ask users for consent in this case." According to the complaint, X does not have solid grounds on which it profits the user data of 60 million people in the European Union without obtaining consent. Users of X were eventually given the option to opt out of data processing through a setting added to X's web version, apparently in late July. However, there was no way to prevent the processing done before that. Notably, as per DPC, X began data processing of user data of the EU to train its AI model from 7 May to 1 August. "Companies that interact directly with users simply need to show them a yes/no prompt before using their data. They do this regularly for lots of other things, so it would definitely be possible for AI training as well," said Schrems.

Elon Musk's X faces privacy complaints in Europe over data use: 'No consent'

The complaints filed by the European Center for Digital Rights -- also known as Noyb ("None of Your Business") -- come after Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) earlier this month took court action against X over its data collection practices to train its AI. X had recently started "irreversibly feeding" the personal data of more than 60 million European users into its Grok AI technology, "without ever informing them or asking for their consent", according to Noyb. Noyb slammed X for "never proactively informing" its users that their data is being used for AI training, saying many people appeared to have "found out about the new default setting through a viral post on 26 July". Last week the DPC -- which acts on behalf of the European Union -- said that X had agreed to suspend its much-criticised processing of users' personal data for its AI technology. But Noyb founder Max Schrems said in a statement that the DPC failed to "question the legality" of the actual processing, seemingly taking action "around the edges, not at the core of the problem". Noyb also warned that it remained unclear what happened with already ingested EU data. Calling for a "full investigation", Noyb has filed complaints in Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. The group has requested an "urgency procedure" against X that allows data protection authorities in the eight European countries to act. "We want to ensure that Twitter (now X) fully complies with EU law, which -- at a bare minimum -- requires to ask users for consent," Schrems said, referring to the bloc's landmark General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR aims to make it easier for people to control how companies use their personal information. The group recently launched similar legal action against social media giant Meta, causing it to halt its AI plans. Noyb has taken several court proceedings against technology giants, often prompting action from regulatory authorities. The group began working in 2018 with the advent of the GDPR.

X hit with Austrian data use complaint over AI training

The group led by privacy activist Max Schrems announced that it had filed General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) complaints with authorities in nine European Union authorities to ramp up pressure on the Irish data protection authority DPC.Austrian advocacy group NOYB on Monday filed a complaint against social media platform X accusing the Elon Musk-owned company of training its artificial intelligence (AI) with users' personal data without their consent in violation of EU privacy law. The group led by privacy activist Max Schrems announced that it had filed General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) complaints with authorities in nine European Union authorities to ramp up pressure on the Irish data protection authority DPC. Ireland's Data Protection Commission, the lead EU regulator for most of the top U.S. internet firms due to the location of their EU operations in the country, has sought an order to suspend or restrict X from processing the data of users for the purposes of developing, training or refining its AI systems. X has agreed not to train its AI systems for now using personal data collected from EU users before they had the option to withdraw their consent, an Irish court heard last week. However, NOYB said the DPC complaint is mainly concerned with mitigation measures and a lack of cooperation by X, and does not question the legality of the data processing itself. "We want to ensure that Twitter fully complies with EU law, which - at a bare minimum - requires to ask users for consent in this case," said Schrems in a statement, referring to X by its previous name. At the hearing last week, an Irish court found that X had only given its users the opportunity to object several weeks after the start of data collection. X did not immediately reply for a request for comment on Monday. The X Global Government Affairs account on Friday said the company would continue to work with the DPC about AI issues. In June, Facebook parent company Meta announced that it would not be launching its AI assistant in Europe for the time being after the Irish DPC told it to delay its plan. NOYB had lodged complaints in several countries against the use of personal data for training the software in this case too.

X hit with Austrian data use complaint over AI training

Austrian advocacy group NOYB on Monday filed a complaint against social media platform X accusing the Elon Musk-owned company of training its artificial intelligence (AI) with users' personal data without their consent in violation of EU privacy law. The group led by privacy activist Max Schrems announced that it had filed General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) complaints with authorities in nine European Union authorities to ramp up pressure on the Irish data protection authority DPC. Ireland's Data Protection Commission, the lead EU regulator for most of the top U.S. internet firms due to the location of their EU operations in the country, has sought an order to suspend or restrict X from processing the data of users for the purposes of developing, training or refining its AI systems. X has agreed not to train its AI systems for now using personal data collected from EU users before they had the option to withdraw their consent, an Irish court heard last week. (For top technology news of the day, subscribe to our tech newsletter Today's Cache) However, NOYB said the DPC complaint is mainly concerned with mitigation measures and a lack of cooperation by X, and does not question the legality of the data processing itself. "We want to ensure that Twitter fully complies with EU law, which - at a bare minimum - requires to ask users for consent in this case," said Schrems in a statement, referring to X by its previous name. At the hearing last week, an Irish court found that X had only given its users the opportunity to object several weeks after the start of data collection. X did not immediately reply for a request for comment on Monday. The X Global Government Affairs account on Friday said the company would continue to work with the DPC about AI issues. In June, Facebook parent company Meta announced that it would not be launching its AI assistant in Europe for the time being after the Irish DPC told it to delay its plan. NOYB had lodged complaints in several countries against the use of personal data for training the software in this case too. Read Comments

Elon Musk's X faces privacy complaints against personal data violations in Europe | Mint

X had recently started 'irreversibly feeding' the personal data of more than 60 million European users into its Grok AI technology, 'without ever informing them or asking for their consent,' according to the complaint. A Vienna-based privacy campaign group lodged complaints in eight European countries against Elon Musk's X on Monday over "unlawfully" feeding the personal data of users into its artificial intelligence technology without their consent. The complaints filed by the European Center for Digital Rights -- also known as Noyb ("None of Your Business") -- come after Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) earlier this month took court action against X over its data collection practices to train its AI. X had recently started "irreversibly feeding" the personal data of more than 60 million European users into its Grok AI technology, "without ever informing them or asking for their consent", according to Noyb. Noyb slammed X for "never proactively informing" its users that their data is being used for AI training, saying many people appeared to have "found out about the new default setting through a viral post on 26 July". Last week the DPC -- which acts on behalf of the European Union -- said that X had agreed to suspend its much-criticised processing of users' personal data for its AI technology. But Noyb founder Max Schrems said in a statement that the DPC failed to "question the legality" of the actual processing, seemingly taking action "around the edges, not at the core of the problem". Noyb also warned that it remained unclear what happened with already ingested EU data. Calling for a "full investigation", Noyb has filed complaints in Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. The group has requested an "urgency procedure" against X that allows data protection authorities in the eight European countries to act. "We want to ensure that Twitter (now X) fully complies with EU law, which -- at a bare minimum -- requires to ask users for consent," Schrems said, referring to the bloc's landmark General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR aims to make it easier for people to control how companies use their personal information. The group recently launched similar legal action against social media giant Meta, causing it to halt its AI plans. Noyb has taken several court proceedings against technology giants, often prompting action from regulatory authorities. The group began working in 2018 with the advent of the GDPR.

Elon Musk's X was hit with 9 complaints after scraping user data to train AI

Nine complaints have been filed against X (formerly Twitter) in the European Union after the social media platform began scraping user data to train AI. A European digital rights advocacy group -- the Austrian non-profit, noyb -- filed the complaints with data protection authorities in Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and Poland. X quietly changed its user settings in late July so that users' posts were automatically shared with Elon Musk's AI startup xAI. X said the data would be used to train xAI's chatbot Grok. The move immediately caught the attention of a European privacy watchdog, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), which took the company to court in Ireland. In response, X stopped scraping Europeans' X posts. But nyob called the DPC's action "half-hearted" because the case "does not seem to go for core violations," hence its filing of complaints in nine countries. Nyob said it's trying "to ensure that the core legal problems around Twitter's AI training are fully addressed." "We want to ensure that Twitter fully complies with EU law, which - at a bare minimum - requires to ask users for consent in this case," said the chairman of nyob, Max Schrems, in the nonprofit's announcement of the actions. "Companies that interact directly with users simply need to show them a yes/no prompt before using their data," he added. "They do this regularly for lots of other things, so it would definitely be possible for AI training as well."

Elon Musk's X faces privacy complaints in Europe over data use

AFP - A Vienna-based privacy campaign group lodged complaints in eight European countries against Elon Musk's X yesterday over "unlawfully" feeding the personal data of users into its artificial intelligence (AI) technology without their consent. The complaints filed by the European Centre for Digital Rights - also known as Noyb ('None of Your Business') - come after Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) earlier this month took court action against X over its data collection practices to train its AI. X had recently started "irreversibly feeding" the personal data of more than 60 million European users into its Grok AI technology, "without ever informing them or asking for their consent", according to Noyb. Noyb slammed X for "never proactively informing" its users that their data is being used for AI training, saying many people appeared to have "found out about the new default setting through a viral post on 26 July". Last week the DPC - which acts on behalf of the European Union (EU) - said that X had agreed to suspend its much-criticised processing of users' personal data for its AI technology. But Noyb founder Max Schrems said in a statement that the DPC failed to "question the legality" of the actual processing, seemingly taking action "around the edges, not at the core of the problem". Noyb also warned that it remained unclear what happened with already ingested EU data. Calling for a "full investigation", Noyb has filed complaints in Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. The group has requested an "urgency procedure" against X that allows data protection authorities in the eight European countries to act.

Elon Musk's X faces privacy complaints over data use

Pakistan welcomes Olympian Arshad Nadeem with grand celebration A Vienna-based privacy campaign group lodged complaints in eight European countries against Elon Musk's X on Monday over "unlawfully" feeding users' personal data into its artificial intelligence technology without their consent. The complaints filed by the European Center for Digital Rights -- also known as Noyb ("None of Your Business") -- come after Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) earlier this month took court action against X over its data collection practices to train its AI. X had recently started "irreversibly feeding" the personal data of more than 60 million European users into its Grok AI technology, "without ever informing them or asking for their consent", according to Noyb. Noyb slammed X for "never proactively informing" its users that their data is being used for AI training, saying many people appeared to have "found out about the new default setting through a viral post on 26 July". Last week the DPC -- which acts on behalf of the European Union -- said that X had agreed to suspend its much-criticised processing of users' personal data for its AI technology. But Noyb founder Max Schrems said in a statement that the DPC failed to "question the legality" of the actual processing, seemingly taking action "around the edges, not at the core of the problem". Noyb also warned that it remained unclear what happened with already ingested EU data. Calling for a "full investigation", Noyb has filed complaints in Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. The group has requested an "urgency procedure" against X that allows data protection authorities in the eight European countries to act. "We want to ensure that Twitter (now X) fully complies with EU law, which -- at a bare minimum -- requires to ask users for consent," Schrems said, referring to the bloc's landmark General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR aims to make it easier for people to control how companies use their personal information. The group recently launched similar legal action against social media giant Meta, causing it to halt its AI plans. Noyb has taken several court proceedings against technology giants, often prompting action from regulatory authorities. The group began working in 2018 with the advent of the GDPR.

Elon Musk Faces EU Probe Over AI Training In Austria

European regulators intensify focus on AI data practices, with X facing significant challenges over GDPR compliance. Elon Musk's social media platform, X, is facing an investigation in Austria over alleged violation of the data privacy law through the use of personal data for AI training. The Austrian privacy NGO NOYB, directed by Max Schrems, has filed a complaint before the Austrian authorities for breach of the EU's strong privacy rules. This complaint echoes similar concerns in the EU regarding tech giants exploiting user information without their permission. NOYB's complaint alleges that the platform has been processing and using without EU users' consent personal data to train AI models including data which was collected from 7th May 2024 to 1st August 2024. NOYB says that X did not notify users or seek their consent to process their data as is required by the GDPR. The advocacy group has called for an investigation by the Austrian authorities to guarantee the respect for EU privacy rules. Concurrently, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), the lead regulator for X in the EU, had also filed legal action against the platform. The DPC is asking the court for an injunction against Elon Musk's from using user data for AI training, arguing that the company's activities are not compliant with GDPR. This legal action is in line with similar moves across Europe to address the handling of personal data by tech giants. Under the increasing legal pressure, the Elon Musk platform agreed to temporarily suspend the use of European user data for AI training on August 8. This was conveyed to the Irish High Court but the issue of how data collected prior to withdrawal of consent is dealt with has not been addressed. Although this is being viewed as a partial victory for the privacy campaigners, NOYB has complained that the legal validity of the data processing has not been resolved. Nevertheless, the fate of the data processed by the Musk platform is still a subject of debate. In addition to Austria, NOYB had lodged complaints against the platform in Belgium and France. The legal actions of the DPC against the Elon Musk platform are in line with the increasing pressure from the European regulators on the largest technology companies, including the use of people's data to train AI. In June, similar concerns forced the DPC to make Meta temporarily suspend its AI projects in Europe. Now, Musk's platform is faced with similar problems, and the results of these legal actions may have significant implications for the further development of AI regulation in the EU.