The Austrian privacy NGO Noyb filed complaints in nine European countries. They say that unlike Meta,Twitter did not even inform its users in advance
X is facing complaints in nine European countries over its “illegal” use of personal data to fuel its artificial intelligence (AI) technology without user consent. The Austrian privacy NGO Noyb filed complaints this Monday in nine European countries, including Spain, accusing X (formerly Twitter) of violating European Union (EU) laws by using the data of millions of users without their consent to train its AI technology.
According to a statement from Noyb, the complaint was filed with the data protection authorities in Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain for violating the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The NGO accuses X, controlled by magnate Elon Musk, of feeding its AI technology with personal data from around 60 million European users without informing them or seeking their consent, which is mandatory under European law.
“Recently, Twitter (now ‘X’) began illegally using the personal data of more than 60 million users to train its AI technology without user consent. Unlike Meta (which recently also had to halt AI training in the EU), Twitter did not even inform its users in advance,” the NGO states.
Since X has started using this private data and there is no option to delete the data already processed, Noyb is requesting an “urgent procedure” for the authorities to take swift action, demanding a preliminary suspension of this practice.
Noyb claims to be aware that last week the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) took legal action against X, but considers that this lawsuit is based on “superficial” aspects and not on the core issue: the mass and illegal ingestion of private data from European citizens.
“The DPC seems to be acting superficially, not on the core issue,” says Max Schrems, the lawyer who founded Noyb and is known for his previous lawsuits that brought down the prior automatic data transfer agreement between the EU and the U.S.
According to this NGO, most users learned about the new AI settings through a viral post on X on July 26, 2024, rather than receiving direct information from the company and being given the option to opt out.
Noyb, whose acronym comes from the English expression ‘None of your business,’ is demanding a “thorough investigation” into X’s practices and answers to numerous questions, such as how the company separates the data of its European customers—as required by community rules—from those of other users.
Privacy advocates point out that the complaint to the data protection authorities of nine countries, which must act to defend the rights of their affected nationals, has been made to increase pressure on X to comply with basic aspects of European legality.
Finally, Noyb emphasizes that there was an easy solution that X ignored, which was to ask for user consent for their data to be processed.
“If only a small number of 60 million users gave their consent for training their AI systems, Twitter would have more than enough training data for any new AI model. But asking for permission doesn’t seem to be Twitter’s current approach,” explains Noyb.
