Social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) updated its privacy policy on Wednesday, indicating that it will allow third-party "collaborators" to use X data to train their AI models, unless users opt out. This change could potentially align X with other social media platforms and media organizations in considering data licensing to AI companies as a new source of revenue.
In the updated privacy policy, X added a paragraph detailing how X user data will be used and how users can opt out. However, currently, the "Privacy and Security" section in the settings does not provide a clear opt-out option, possibly because the updated privacy policy will not take effect until November 15, when an opt-out option may be added.
Additionally, X removed a section stating that it would retain users' "profile information and content during the account's active period" and would keep other "personally identifiable data collected while you use our products and services for up to 18 months." Instead, the new section explains that X will "retain different types of information for different periods, depending on how long we need to retain it to provide our products and services, comply with our legal requirements, and for security reasons."
X's updated privacy policy also introduced a new "liquidated damages" section, stipulating that any organization scraping its content will be liable for damages. Specifically, "requesting, viewing, or accessing more than 1,000,000 posts (including reply posts, video posts, image posts, and any other posts) within 24 hours," X states that the organization will be charged $15,000 for every 1,000,000 posts.
This change may be due to X's need for new ways to pay its bills, especially amid advertisers pulling out and boycotting, and with subscription features yet to be launched.