Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced on Friday that it has initiated an investigation into Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, regarding its handling of personal data from European users for Artificial Intelligence training purposes. The DPC’s inquiry specifically targets X’s use of publicly available user-generated content from European accounts in training the generative AI model called Grok.
This latest regulatory scrutiny follows X’s decision last year to quietly include its European users’ data in shared information pools provided to Musk’s AI venture, xAI, for developing its conversational chatbot, Grok. Last month, Musk publicly confirmed that xAI had completed an acquisition of X, further intertwining operational links between the two entities.
Under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), companies processing the personal data of individuals must establish a valid legal justification for doing so. The DPC highlighted that violations can result in hefty fines, reaching up to 4% of a company’s global annual revenue. In recent times, the DPC has imposed significant penalties on major technology companies, including TikTok, Microsoft, and particularly Meta, whose cumulative fines approach approximately €3 billion ($3.38 billion).
This investigation marks another assertive step by Ireland’s privacy watchdog in enforcing above-the-board data practices. It follows a previous attempt by the DPC last year to seek a court injunction aimed specifically at preventing X from processing European user data for AI model training.
