Privacy Concerns Emerge as X's Data Practices Under Scrutiny in Australia

The social media platform X, could be breaching Australian privacy laws, according to Australia's privacy watchdog. The issue lies with the platform's automatic opt-in system for using user posts to develop artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has not confirmed if it will investigate X's data collection practices, similar to their ongoing inquiry into TikTok.

The concern arises as more digital platforms use collected personal information for a secondary purpose, such as training AI models. A feature in X's privacy settings allows the platform to use an account holder's posts to train the chatbot Grok, developed by Elon Musk's company xAI.

Under Australian law, users should retain control over their data via default settings. Platforms must seek consent for data use or ensure that users would reasonably expect the data to be used in such a manner. Both UK and Irish privacy watchdogs have also raised concerns over X's default settings.

John Pane, chairperson of Electronic Frontiers Australia, criticised the platform's data harvesting default setting, implying that it breaches Australian law. X's actions also ignited anger among digital rights non-profit organisations. Pane further criticised the lax privacy laws in the United States, where X is headquartered.

In related news, other platforms, including Meta and Slack, have also been implicated in user data harvesting for AI training. Musk's xAI, on the other hand, is building the world's largest supercomputer in Memphis for AI development, with a planned $5 billion investment from Tesla.

- CyberBeat