And finally, GDPR is not a replacement for FTC monitoring, they argued. This is particularly evident as X is currently under investigation for “unauthorized collection of data from European users to train a Grok AI model without valid GDPR consent”.
“X Corp.’s push to develop artificial intelligence should require more FTC oversight of the company’s privacy practices, not less,” advocates said.
Former AG supports Xi
X did not respond to Ars’ request for comment.
However, the former Attorney General of the United States, William Barr, provided comments supporting X letter, Barr has called the FTC’s hundreds of data requests since Musk’s purchase of Twitter excessive.
Opposing “permanent agency oversight of private companies,” Barr pushed the FTC to stop treating cancellations of consent orders as emergency cases require, and to reopen the order to at least consider whether the scope of X’s restrictions is appropriate.
Whether X’s application succeeds may depend on X’s legal analysis, but defenders’ claim was “misleading”.
For example, none of the cited X cases actually support the argument that a “converted” company need not retain an order after restructuring, advocates argue. In one case, the order was canceled by applying a “sunset” policy requiring such a result after 20 years. In another, the order was not substantially changed due to market change, as X contended, but after 16 years of compliance, it was finally changed.
Unlike those cases, X’s order is “only four years old,” the attorneys said, and X has indicated it still requires a review. In addition, Musk agreed to accept the costs and follow the order when he bought Twitter, so they argued that he should stick with him for the duration.
More pointedly, the lawyers pointed out that X is largely unchanged, performing the same functions as Twitter.
Musk, therefore, “remains in the same business that runs a social media platform, still uses user data for targeted advertising, and now has new uses and desires for consumer data in the AI business that make oversight of the 2022 Order even more important.”
