X (formerly Twitter) to Use User Data for AI Development, No Compensation Offered
X (formerly Twitter) has announced significant revisions to its Terms of Service (TOS), alongside modifications to user blocking functionality. These changes, communicated through platform-wide pop-up notifications, will come into effect on November 15, 2024.
Revised Blocking Mechanisms
The platform’s blocking feature will undergo a fundamental shift. While users can still block accounts from directly interacting with their content (e.g., liking, replying, reposting), blocked accounts will retain the ability to view the content in its entirety. This marks a departure from the previous functionality, where blocked accounts had no access to a user’s posts.
Content Licensing and AI Development
The updated TOS contains provisions that grant X a comprehensive license to utilize user-generated content. Specifically, the “Content on the Services” section outlines X’s right to use any content posted on the platform, including text, images, audio, and video, for various purposes, including the training of artificial intelligence (AI) models. This license is royalty-free and extends to third-party usage, with no obligation for X to compensate users for their content.
“You agree that this license includes the right for us to (i) analyze text and other information you provide and to otherwise provide, promote, and improve the Services, including, for example, for use with and training of our machine learning and artificial intelligence models, whether generative or another type; and (ii) to make Content submitted to or through the Services available to other companies, organizations or individuals, including, for example, for improving the Services and the syndication, broadcast, distribution, repost, promotion or publication of such Content on other media and services, subject to our terms and conditions for such Content use,” reads the Terms of Service.
Data Ownership and User Consent
X’s justification for this policy rests on the premise that content shared on social media platforms is inherently public. The company asserts that users implicitly consent to the broad use of their data by posting it on the platform. This raises critical questions about the evolving nature of data ownership and user rights in the context of AI development.
Call to Action for Users
X has stipulated that continued use of the platform after November 15, 2024, constitutes acceptance of the updated TOS. Users who disagree with the new terms are advised to cease using the platform before the deadline.
These changes underscore the growing tension between user privacy, content ownership, and the data requirements of AI technologies. X’s revised TOS serves as a significant development in the ongoing discourse surrounding the ethical implications of AI development and the role of social media platforms in shaping the digital landscape.
