X targeted with nine complaints after grabbing EU users’ data for training Grok

X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, is facing nine privacy complaints for allegedly processing the data of European Union users without their consent to train its Grok AI chatbot. The complaints were filed with data protection authorities across several EU countries, including Austria, Belgium, and Ireland, citing violations of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) expressed surprise at the situation, as X had been processing user data from May 7 to August 1 without proper notification or consent mechanisms in place. Although a setting to opt out was introduced in late July, many users were unaware of the data processing prior to this change. Privacy rights nonprofit noyb, which is supporting the complaints, argues that X's reliance on a "legitimate interest" legal basis for data processing is insufficient and that explicit user consent is necessary. The DPC has initiated legal action to halt X's data processing practices, but noyb contends that more robust enforcement is needed, particularly regarding users' rights to delete their data. This situation follows a similar case where Meta paused its plans to use user data for AI training after facing regulatory scrutiny.

- X is facing nine privacy complaints for processing EU users' data without consent.

- The complaints were filed in multiple EU countries, citing violations of GDPR.

- The Irish DPC is taking legal action against X for its data processing practices.

- Users were unaware of data processing until an opt-out option was introduced in late July.

- Privacy advocates argue that explicit user consent is required for AI training data usage.