The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has taken legal action against Elon Musk’s social media platform, X (formerly known as Twitter), for allegedly violating EU data protection laws.
The lawsuit centres on the collection and use of user data by X and its associated AI company, xAI.
The DPC’s lawsuit, as reported by RTE, focuses on the data practices of X and xAI’s AI model, Grok. The commission claims that X continued to collect data from EU users despite requests to stop.
The DPC had initially hoped for a resolution without resorting to legal action and had expected a cooperative response from X by late July, which did not materialize.
Elon Musk, who owns both X and xAI, has promoted the integration between the two companies. X requires a paid subscription to access xAI’s Grok, and user data from X is used to train Grok and other X products.
Although users can opt out of data usage now, the DPC argues that data was collected before this option was available, and the companies have not adequately addressed past violations.
The legal process is underway, with the judge permitting expedited notice of injunction proceedings. The outcome and potential impacts on X and xAI users in the EU remain uncertain.
In a separate legal battle, Musk has filed a new lawsuit against Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, another AI firm.
Musk alleges that Altman misled him into investing in what he claims was a deceptive nonprofit organization. This follows a previous lawsuit Musk had filed and later dropped against OpenAI regarding its nonprofit status.
