The social network X, under the direction of billionaire Elon Musk, has implemented a new option to use user posts in the development of its artificial intelligence, Grok. This modification has been made automatically and without prior notice to users, generating concern in various jurisdictions.
According to the platform's privacy policy, tweets, images, and videos can be used to fine-tune and train the AI system. This approach has raised concerns about personal data protection, especially in regions such as Europe and Brazil.
Brazil's National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) has issued an injunction against Meta for similar practices. Although the ANPD has not yet ruled on the situation with social network X, investigations are ongoing to determine possible violations of the General Data Protection Act (LGPD).
Legal experts believe that the platform may have violated data protection regulations by not notifying users about the use of their personal data. Unlike Meta, which notified users about using data to train AI in May, X made no prior public announcement. Archived documents from Grok's website show that as of June 27, no user data was being used to train AI. The ANPD argued that using social media posts to train language models presents an "imminent risk of serious and irreparable harm" to users' fundamental rights. The entity indicated that it could initiate further auditing processes to investigate the use of personal data for these purposes.
Carlos Affonso Souza, director of the Rio de Janeiro Institute of Technology and Society (ITS-Rio), expressed concern about the potential impact of cybersecurity incidents on far-reaching platforms. Although X has fewer users than Facebook and Instagram, it is still an influential social network.
Since Twitter's acquisition by Elon Musk in October 2022, official information on the number of active users has yet to be released. However, in the last quarter of 2021, the platform had 217 million users worldwide, with Brazil being one of the most active countries.
