The social network X (formerly Twitter) changed its Privacy Policy on Wednesday to say that it would let third-party “collaborators” use X data to build their AI models unless users choose not to. Elon Musk, the owner of X, used X user data to train xAI’s Grok AI chatbot, which led to a probe by the EU’s top privacy watchdog. The company hadn’t yet changed its policy to say that third parties could also use its data.
The change to the policy suggests that X, like Reddit and other media outlets, is thinking about selling data to AI companies as a possible new way to make money.
X added a line to Section 3 of the updated Privacy Policy called “Sharing Information” that explains how X user data can be used and how users can choose not to have their data used.
This Is What It Says:
“Collaborators from a third party.” Your settings may allow us to share your information with third parties, or you may choose to do so yourself. If you don’t say no, the people who receive the information may use it for their own purposes, not just those listed in X’s Privacy Policy. For example, they may use it to train their artificial intelligence models, whether they are generative or otherwise.
The policy tells users to go to the settings page on X, but it doesn’t say exactly where they would go in the settings to turn off sharing of data. At the moment, users can choose whether to share their data with xAI’s Grok or with other “business partners.” However, “business partners” are defined as companies that X may work with to “run and improve its products,” not other AI providers.
That could be because the new privacy policy won’t go into effect until November 15. After that date, the opt-out option could be added. (We hope.)
The company also got rid of a sentence that said it kept “profile information and content for the duration of your account” and “other personally identifiable data we collect when you use our products and services for a maximum of 18 months.”
The new section says that X will keep “different types of information for different periods of time, depending on how long we need to retain it in order to provide you with our products and services, to comply with our legal requirements, and for safety and security reasons.” It says that information about how you use the site, like the “content you post” and how you connect with other people’s content, will be kept for “the duration of your account or until such content is removed.”
A note was also added to the policy to warn people that public content can still be found in other places after it has been taken down from X. As X says, “search engines and other third parties may retain copies of your posts longer, based upon their own privacy policies, even after they are deleted or expire on X.” This could possibly cover AI providers taking the data in.
X has also added a new section to its updated Terms of Service called “Liquidated Damages.” This section says that any organization that scrapes its content will have to pay damages. According to X, the company will be charged $15,000 USD for each 1,000,000 posts they request, view, or access, which includes reply posts, video posts, picture posts, and any other posts. This is true for 24 hours.
The company needed to find new ways to make money after advertisers pulled their ads and users stopped subscribing. This is why it decided to start selling X data.
X did not answer when asked for a response.
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