Elon Musk and X in trouble again: lawsuit for violating the GDPR and the Digital Services Act
Bad news for Elon Musk. His famous platform X, formerly known as Twitter, is in trouble and facing a new privacy complaint in Europe. The non-profit organization noyb has filed a complaint with the dutch data protection authority, accusing X of not following its own rules about how ads can be shown to users.
Despite platform restrictions prohibiting targeting ads based on political affiliations or religious beliefs, the European Commission, as an advertiser,—it seems ironic— apparently used sensitive data of this type to target users and X did nothing about it.
Specifically, the European Commission was promoting a controversial law on scanning messages for child abuse material. Noyb had already filed a similar complaint against the Commission for using this advertising method. Now, They are taking the complaint a step further, accusing X of allowing these practices.
It is quite ironic, since it is precisely the EC that is responsible for ensuring that platforms like X comply with the rules. Now both are being singled out for flouting the GDPR and the Digital Services Act.
Two for one: the European Commission violates X’s targeted advertising regulations, but the platform allows it
“After we filed our first complaint in this matter, the EU Commission already confirmed that it would stop advertising on explains Felix Mikolasch, data protection lawyer at noyb, in a statement.
The GDPR sets strict limits on how personal data, such as political affiliation or religious beliefs, can be used.
The DSA, on the other hand, requires platforms to obtain consent before using personal data to target ads. Here’s the problem: X users did not give their explicit permission for this type of advertising.
It’s not just a matter of X’s internal rules, as it is a larger legal issue. Noyb is calling for huge sanctions against the social network for allowing the misuse of sensitive data. Of course, we must not forget a separate aspect and that is that there is no doubt that it is ironic that the European Commission, in charge of supervising the DSA on large platforms, is accused of violating privacy regulations by advertising on X.
