Social media platform X has slammed an Irish request for it to stop processing user data for its Grok AI as “draconian”, according to national broadcaster RTE.
The country’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) sought a High Court order on August 6 that would ban X from processing its users’ personal data to develop any of its AI systems.
RTE reported on August 8 that the court also heard X had said that if granted, the “draconian” order being sought would prevent it “from carrying out the essential functions required for the provision of the platform in the European Union and European Economic Area”.
The platform added that it fully opposed the DPC’s attempt to seek the order.
X has agreed to cease the processing of one data set until the case comes back to court in September, committing to the court that it will cease using information tied to public posts made from May 7 to August 1 for the purpose of training AI.
The DPC has said it was happy with that commitment.
“One of our main roles as an independent regulator and rights based organisation is to ensure the best outcome for data subjects and today’s developments will help us to continue protecting the rights and freedoms of X users across the EU and EEA,” DPC chairman Des Hogan said.
“We will continue to engage with all data controllers to ensure the rights of our citizens under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the GDPR are upheld.”
At the core of the case was the claim that X did not sufficiently grant users the ability to opt out of their posts being used to train AI.
X claimed that, since the company began the practice of training Grok on public posts in the EU, users could de facto opt out of having their posts used as data sets by having their accounts set to private.
The company also implemented a formal opt-out system within user settings in July. One High Court judge reportedly stated that X had admitted to the DPC that it was “a technical mistake” that such a formal opt-out mechanism was not made available to X users immediately.
The Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament has demanded that the European Commission provide details of what it claimed was a “disgusting” plan to censor Elon Musk’s X. https://t.co/GiOQz6rsW5
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) July 31, 2024
