A Vienna-based privacy organization has recently lodged complaints in eight EU member states, claiming that Musk’s social media platform X (ex-Twitter) has been unlawfully capturing user data to deploy artificial intelligence.
Now, the European Center for Digital Rights, identified as Noyb, has accused X of engaging in “unlawful processing” of more than 60 million European users’ personal data by feeding the information into the Grok AI system. This comes after Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) launched legal proceedings against X for its data collection.
Noyb quoted X as feeding the personal data of over sixty million European users into the Grok AI technology ‘without their knowledge or permission’. Others have accused X of not letting users know that their data is used in training the AI.
Noyb has now filed complaints in several European countries to ask for an ‘urgency procedure’ that would let data protection authorities act against X. The group demanded a ‘full investigation’ of user personal data usage and highlighted that, according to European regulations, the user must consent.
The legal issues emerge at a time when the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) seeks to enhance the rights of data subjects. The decision in this case could have far-reaching consequences on how social media handle user data and use artificial intelligence in Europe.
