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DPC welcomes end of AI action against X

High Court proceedings taken by the Data Protection Commission (DPC) against social-media platform X have been struck out.

Welcoming the development, the DPC said that the proceedings had ended on the basis of X’s agreement to continue to adhere permanently to the terms of an earlier undertaking.

The platform, formerly known as Twitter, last month agreed to suspend its processing of the personal data contained in the public posts of X’s users in the EU and the EEA for use in the training of its AI model, called ‘Grok’.

Data act

The DPC had brought an urgent High Court application against X under section 134 of the Data Protection Act 2018 – the first time it had used these powers.

This section allows the DPC, where it considers that there is an urgent need to act to protect the rights and freedoms of data subjects, to make an application to the High Court for an order requiring the data controller to suspend, restrict, or prohibit the processing of personal data.

Commissioner Des Hogan welcomed the outcome, saying that it demonstrated the DPC’s commitment to taking appropriate action where necessary.

Request to EDPB

He added that the watchdog had also asked the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) for an opinion on article 64(2) of the GDPR.

“This request will be made in order to trigger discussion and facilitate agreement, at EDPB level, on some of the core issues that arise in the context of processing for the purpose of developing and training an AI model, thereby bringing some much needed clarity into this complex area.

“The opinion invites the EDPB to consider, amongst other things, the extent to which personal data is processed at various stages of the training and operation of an AI model,” he stated.

Commissioner Dale Sunderland said that the DPC hoped that the EDPB opinion would enable “proactive, effective, and consistent Europe-wide regulation” of this area.