Social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has agreed to pause the use of personal data from European Union users to train its AI systems, following legal action by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC).
The DPC, the primary EU regulator for many major U.S. tech companies, sought a court order this week to prevent X from processing user data for AI development until users had the chance to withdraw their consent.
X, owned by Elon Musk, allows users to control whether their public posts can be used by its AI chatbot, Grok. Users must uncheck a box in their privacy settings to opt out of this data usage. However, Judge Leonie Reynolds noted that X began using EU users’ data for AI training on May 7, but only introduced the opt-out option on July 16, and not all users had access to this feature initially.
A lawyer representing X informed the court that any data collected from EU users between May 7 and August 1 would not be utilized for AI purposes until the legal proceedings regarding the DPC’s order are concluded. X’s legal team is expected to submit their opposition to the suspension order by September 4.
In response to the DPC’s actions, X’s Global Government Affairs account posted on the platform, describing the regulator’s order as “unwarranted, overboard, and unfairly targeting X without valid justification.”
