A Vienna-based privacy advocacy group has filed formal complaints in eight European countries against Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, alleging unlawful use of personal data for artificial intelligence (AI) purposes. The European Center for Digital Rights, also known as Noyb (“None of Your Business”), contends that X has been “irreversibly feeding” the personal data of more than 60 million European users into its Grok AI technology without obtaining their consent.
The complaints, lodged on Monday, follow recent legal actions by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC), which had already taken court action against X over its data collection practices related to AI training. Noyb’s filings accuse X of failing to proactively inform users about the use of their data, a revelation that many users only became aware of through a viral social media post on July 26.
Although the DPC announced last week that X had agreed to suspend its controversial data processing activities, Noyb’s founder, Max Schrems, criticized the commission for not fully addressing the legality of X’s actions. Schrems emphasized the need for a comprehensive investigation, highlighting that the handling of already ingested European Union data remains unclear.
Noyb has called for an “urgency procedure” to be implemented by data protection authorities in Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain to ensure that X complies with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR mandates that companies must at least ask for user consent before processing their personal information.
Noyb has a history of successfully challenging technology giants, including recent legal actions against Meta, leading to the suspension of its AI plans. The group has been active since 2018, coinciding with the introduction of the GDPR.
