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Elon Musk’s X faces privacy complaints in Europe over data use concerns

A privacy campaign group on Monday lodged complaints against Elon Musk's X in eight European countries over concerns it was "feeding" users' personal data into its AI technology without their consent.

Published: 12 August 2024 08:37 CEST
Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of X, speaks at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California
Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of X, speaks at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Photo by Apu Gomes / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

The complaints filed by the European Center for Digital Rights – also known as Noyb (‘None of Your Business’) – come after Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) earlier this month took court action against X over data collection practices used to train its AI.

X had recently started “irreversibly feeding” the personal data of more than 60 million European users into its Grok AI technology, “without ever informing them or asking for their consent”, according to Noyb.

Noyb slammed X for “never proactively informing” its users that their data was being used for AI training, saying many people appeared to have “found out about the new default setting through a viral post on 26 July”.

Last week the DPC – which acts on behalf of the European Union – said that X had agreed to suspend its much-criticised processing of users’ personal data for its AI technology.

But Noyb founder Max Schrems said in a statement that the DPC failed to “question the legality” of the actual processing, seemingly taking action “around the edges, not at the core of the problem”.

Noyb also warned that it remained unclear what happened with already ingested EU data.

Calling for a “full investigation”, Noyb has filed complaints in Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.

The group has requested an “urgency procedure” against X that allows data protection authorities in the eight European countries to act.

“We want to ensure that Twitter (now X) fully complies with EU law, which – at a bare minimum – requires to ask users for consent,” Schrems said, referring to the bloc’s landmark General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The GDPR aims to make it easier for people to control how companies use their personal information.

The group recently launched similar legal action against social media giant Meta, causing it to halt its AI plans.

Noyb has taken several court proceedings against technology giants, often prompting action from regulatory authorities.

The group began working in 2018 with the advent of the GDPR.

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LIFE IN SPAIN

Lista Robinson: What to know about Spain’s opt-out option for spam calls

Getting annoyed by those bothersome cold calls trying to sell you something in Spain? There's a system that might help.

Published: 21 August 2024 09:13 CEST
Updated: 25 August 2024 06:23 CEST
Lista Robinson: What to know about Spain's opt-out option for spam calls

Spam calls are something of a problem in Spain; anyone who lives here can tell you that. The government has tried to do something about it, though rather ineffectually so far.

READ MORE: Why Spain’s law to ban spam calls has failed

It’s been a year since the Spanish government first brought in legislation to try and stop spam calls, but for practically everyone in Spain these infuriating marketing and advertising cold calls nonetheless continue.

According to a survey by consumer rights group Facua published at the beginning of July 2024, almost everyone polled (98 percent) continue to receive unsolicited sales calls. 

READ ALSO: Spain to roll out another law banning cold calls by energy companies

Despite the legislation, almost seven out of ten had received more than five spam calls in the last month. 

So, what can you do about it? Is there anything you can do about it?

Many in Spain turn to the Lista Robinson (Robinson List) to try and find a solution to these bothersome cold calls.

What is the Robinson List?

According to the Robinson List website: “It is a free advertising exclusion service, available to consumers, which aims to reduce the amount of advertising they receive.

The Robinson List Service falls within the scope of personalised advertising, i.e. advertising that a user receives targeted to his or her name.”

It’s a list you can add yourself to in order to exclude (or reduce) your name from these sorts of spam mail, cold calls and unsolicited advertising in the post.

It doesn’t cost anything to sign up either: “It’s a free service; there is no additional cost to join the list, nor is there any additional cost to remain on the list or to add new telephone numbers or email addresses.” 

Signing up to the list is quick and easy, and you can add several different phone numbers, e-mail addresses and postal addresses.

However, although it reduces how much unwanted advertising you receive, it doesn’t completely prevent commercial calls and spam mail in the post, as there are lots of companies that simply don’t consult the list before making calls or sending advertising.

It should also be noted that the Robinson List doesn’t stop us from receiving advertising from companies with which we already have a contractual relationship. This basically means that your phone or wifi company could call you up to try and sell you a new deal or offer, and that this would be within the rules even if you’re signed up to the list.

Nor does it include companies that we gave our consent to receive advertising, something we can do in a myriad of ways without even realising we’ve done it.

All in all, being on the Robinson will likely cut the number of cold calls and amount of spam mail you receive, but it won’t stop them completely.

Note that the service is simple and free, but not immediate: it takes around 3 months from the time you sign up for the Robinson List to take effect.

How do I sign up?

  • Go to the Robinson List website.
  • Click on apúntate a la lista (sign up to the list).
  • Register with your details.
  • Once you’ve finished your registration and had it confirmed via email, you’ll be able to choose which type of calls and mail you no longer wish to receive including e-mail, telephone (mobile and landline), post and SMS/MMS messages, and add the various numbers and contact addresses you want to be excluded.

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