The social media site X, which used to be called Twitter, has updated its general terms and conditions (T&Cs). Now, these terms permit the sharing of customer data with third parties. This allows X to sell user data to various companies, which can then utilize it for their own needs, like training their artificial intelligence systems.
Changes Coming Soon
These alterations to the T&Cs will take effect on November 15, 2024, and will automatically apply to all users. The new privacy policy mentions:
"If you do not opt out, recipients of the information may in some cases use it for their own independent purposes, including, for example, to train their artificial intelligence models, in addition to the purposes specified in X's Privacy Policy."
Criticism and Concerns
X has faced backlash for its management of user data for a while now. In 2023, the firm, owned by Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX fame, was criticized by the EU Commission for breaching the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Digital Services Act (DSA). This incident involved unlawful micro-targeting in political ads. The recent modifications to the terms and conditions are expected to intensify discussions about user data protection.
Users can choose to object to their data being shared. However, this requires them to take action, which means they must be aware that their data is being shared in the first place. Even though there are still a few days until October 15, X has yet to disclose where users can find the opt-out option.
New Measures Against Data Collectors
Alongside the updates to the data protection policy, X is also putting stricter rules in place against external data harvesters. The new T&Cs will impose hefty fines for those using automated tools to gather large amounts of data from the platform. If an account is found to be viewing 1 million posts in a 24-hour period, it will incur a fine of $15,000, with the same penalty applying for each additional million posts viewed.
