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An Irish watchdog has launched proceedings against Elon Musk’s X Corp due to concerns about how users’ personal data is being processed.
The Irish Times reported that the Data Protection Commission (DPC) had filed the matter with the High Court.
They say its concerns focus on the use of personal data, in public posts by X users, in the European Union/European Economic Area to train AI systems utilized by the social media platform including its tool known as ‘Grok.’
Grok is the conversational chatbot that was developed by Musk’s company xAI. The tool is only available through X (formerly Twitter).
The Irish-based commission is reported to claim “that by its use of Grok, Twitter International is not complying with its obligations under the GDPR, the EU regulation that sets guidelines for information privacy and data protection.”
Twitter and Irish watchdog matter is to be discussed in court later this week
There is further concern around the potential next version of Grok which could be launched this month.
According to the publisher, the DPC has “claimed that Twitter International has refused requests” to “cease processing the personal data in question or to defer the launch of the next edition of Grok.”
X does have mitigation measures in place like an opt-out mechanism for users. The DPC is reported as saying they accept this but “the fact remains that data related to a very significant number of X’s millions of European-based users has been and continues to be processed without being afforded the protection of these mitigating measures in a timely and effective manner, consistent with rights under GDPR.”
The case is being represented by Remy Farrell SC, with David Fennelly Bl, instructed by Philip Lee Solicitors. They brought the case in front of Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds on Tuesday (August 6).
The DPC was granted permission to service a short notice of the injunction proceedings on Twitter, with the matter returning before the court later this week.
Featured Image: Via John Hoey on Flickr
