From the probe being launched into X’s use of personal data for AI training in in Ireland to Google being sued for $6.6 billion over search engine dominance in Britain, here’s everything we covered at Digital Rights Monitor (DRM) this week.
Read our weekly news roundup.
IRELAND: Probe launched into X over personal data use for Grok AI training
An investigation has been launched into X’s processing of personal data of users based in the European Union (EU) for training of the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) model, Grok AI.
According to an official statement released last week by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC), the probe will focus on X’s use of personal data comprising publicly accessible posts on the social media platform by users in the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA).
The investigation will examine X’s compliance with various provisions under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), under which the regulator can fine tech companies (whose EU headquarters are based in Dublin) four per cent of their global revenue.
The probe, being conducted under Section 110 of the Data Protection Act 2018, will determine the “lawfulness and transparency” of X’s data processing. “The purpose of this inquiry is to determine whether this personal data was lawfully processed in order to train the Grok LLMs [Large Language Models],” the data privacy watchdog says.
More here
EU: Meta to train AI models using public posts, interactions
Meta Platforms has announced that it will start using public posts by adult users and interactions with its artificial intelligence (AI) on its social media platforms to train the company’s AI models in the European Union (EU).
In a statement released this week by Meta, the company claims that the training will facilitate millions of people and businesses across Europe, and that using social media posts will help Meta’s generative AI models to understand diverse cultures and languages better.
EU users can, however, opt out of the training, which will be based on their online activity and engagements. “People based in the EU who use our platforms can choose to object to their public data being used for training purposes,” says Meta.
Formerly planned for launch in June 2024, Meta introduced its AI in the EU last month. The delay had come hot on the heels of regulatory concerns about data protection in the bloc. The company’s AI rollout in the EU was impeded by the strict regulations around data privacy and protection enforced by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) in the region.
More here
UK: Google sued for $6.6b over search dominance
Google has been sued for potential damages worth up to £5 billion ($6.6 billion) in the United Kingdom (UK) over accusations of abusing its dominance in the online search market.
The class action lawsuit was filed on Wednesday, with the Competition Appeal Tribunal claiming that the search engine giant abused its dominant position to impede rival search engines and lifting itself as the only search engine within reach for online search advertising.
Or Brook, who is a competition law academic, is leading the class action lawsuit against Google. She is representing a large number of British organisations that used Google’s online advertising services from January 1, 2011, up until the complaint’s filing.
“Today, UK businesses and organisations, big or small, have almost no choice but to use Google ads to advertise their products and services,” Brook said on Tuesday. “Regulators around the world have described Google as a monopoly and securing a spot on Google’s top pages is essential for visibility.”
More here
