X has announced an update to its privacy policy, introducing new language that permits the sharing of user data with third-party “collaborators” to facilitate the training of AI models. This updated policy, effective from November 15, 2024, resembles a model where external companies can potentially pay to license data from X.
The new policy revision by X includes an addition titled “third-party collaborators.” According to the policy, user data may be shared or disclosed to third parties based on user settings or upon user consent. If users do not opt out, these third parties may utilize the data for their own purposes, including training AI models, alongside the intentions stated in X’s Privacy Policy. However, it remains unclear how users can opt out of this data sharing. While the policy references the settings menu for opting out, a specific control for this action has not yet been identified. Since the policy will not take effect until the following month, there is still the possibility of changes. X has not provided a comment on this matter.
Should X decide to license its data to other companies, this could introduce a significant new revenue stream for the social media platform, which has faced decreasing interest from major advertisers.
Additionally, X is revising its terms of service to impose stricter penalties for excessive “scraping” of tweets. Under a section called “liquidated damages,” any entity that views or accesses more than one million posts daily will incur a $15,000 penalty.
The company emphasizes the importance of safeguarding user data and system resources. It states that violators of the Terms, or those facilitating violations, could be held liable for liquidated damages of $15,000 per 1,000,000 posts accessed within a 24-hour period.
X’s owner, Elon Musk, has previously expressed concerns about “scraping.” Last year, X temporarily restricted users from viewing tweets without logging in, a decision Musk attributes to the issue of data scraping. He also placed X’s API behind a paywall, thereby obstructing researchers’ access to the platform’s data. Additionally, Musk has utilized scraping allegations to justify legal actions against organizations studying hate speech and other platform-related issues.
