The company X is updating its privacy policy to include provisions that permit sharing user data with third-party collaborators for the purpose of training AI models. The revised policy, which will be effective from November 15, 2024, suggests the possibility of arrangements similar to those of Reddit, where external companies can purchase data licenses from X.
According to the shared update from X, a new section titled “third-party collaborators” has been introduced. The policy indicates, “Depending on your settings, or if you decide to share your data, we may share or disclose your information with third parties. If you do not opt out, in some instances the recipients of the information may use it for their own independent purposes in addition to those stated in X’s Privacy Policy, including, for example, to train their artificial intelligence models, whether generative or otherwise.”
Although an opt-out option is mentioned, the details on how users can exercise this option remain unclear. As noted by TechCrunch, the policy references settings within the user menu; however, no specific controls for opting out of data sharing have been identified. Nevertheless, the policy does not take effect until next month, leaving the possibility for changes. X has not provided a comment on this matter.
Should X choose to begin licensing its data to other entities, it could potentially establish a significant new source of revenue, especially given the diminishing interest from major advertisers.
In addition to privacy policy changes, X is also revising its terms of service to impose stricter penalties on organizations found to be “scraping” large quantities of tweets. Within a section titled “liquidated damages,” the company specifies that any party viewing or accessing over a million posts in a single day will incur a penalty of $15,000.
The company’s owner, Elon Musk, has previously expressed strong opposition to “scraping.” Last year, the company temporarily restricted access to tweets when not logged in, which Musk attributed as a measure against data scrapers. Additionally, X has moved its API behind a paywall, significantly limiting researchers’ ability to study activities on the platform. Allegations of “scraping” have also been used by Musk to support lawsuits against organizations examining hate speech and other issues on the platform.
