On Thursday, social media platform X agreed not to use personal data collected from European Union users to train its AI systems until users had the option to withdraw their consent, as an Irish court heard.
This decision came after Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC), the lead EU regulator for major U.S. internet firms operating in the country, sought an order to suspend or restrict X from processing user data for AI development, training, or refinement.
X, owned by Elon Musk, claimed it allows all users to decide whether their public posts can be used by the platform’s AI chatbot, Grok.
Users must opt out by unticking a box in their privacy settings. However, Judge Leonie Reynolds pointed out that X began processing EU users’ data for AI training on May 7, but only offered the opt-out option starting July 16.
The feature was also not initially available to all users.
A lawyer for X stated that the data collected from EU users between May 7 and August 1 would not be used until the court decides on the DPC’s order. X’s lawyers are expected to file opposition papers against the suspension order by September 4.
In a post on Wednesday, the X Global Government Affairs account criticized the regulator’s order as “unwarranted, overboard, and singles out X without any justification.”
The DPC’s concerns about X’s data usage follow Meta Platforms’ decision in June to delay launching its Meta AI models in Europe after the Irish DPC requested a postponement. Alphabet’s Google also agreed to delay and modify its Gemini AI chatbot earlier this year after consultations with the Irish regulator.
