Twitter (formerly Twitter) has decided to stop using European user data to train its artificial intelligence, Grok. The company made the decision after complaints from nine European countries, including Spain, were filed with the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), which oversees the activities of major technology companies in the European Union.
Amid calls for stricter controls over AI companies, the DPC a few days ago demanded that Company X stop its data processing activities for the purposes of training AI, alleging that the company had not obtained explicit consent from users for such purposes.
The data collection process began on May 7, but the possibility to exclude users was not introduced until July 16 and was not immediately available to everyone. So, for some time, X was using data without users’ explicit consent, going against the requirements of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Under the leadership of Elon Musk, X (formerly Twitter) announced that it would not use data collected between May and August while the DPC order was under review. Explained It criticised the measures as “unjustified, overbroad and targeting X without any justification”, and expressed concern that they could affect the “security of the platform” and its operations in the EU.
This is by no means an isolated case: other tech giants such as Meta and Google have faced similar regulatory scrutiny and have taken steps to align their practices with European law. These steps reflect a shift in attitude as EU regulators take a more active role in overseeing tech companies’ use of data.