Elon Musk-owned X is under fire over potential violation of social media laws
Elon Musk-owned social media platform X (formerly Twitter) is facing regulatory action in Europe. A report has said that 9 civil society organisations have filed complaints with EU and French regulators, alleging that Musk's platform is using users' sensitive data for targeted advertising, potentially violating EU tech rules.
As per a report in news agency Reuters, the organisations – AI Forensics, the Centre for Democracy and Technology Europe, Entropy, European Digital Rights, Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte e.V. (GFF), Global Witness, Panoptykon Foundation, Stichting Bits of Freedom, and VoxPublic – have submitted their complaints to the European Commission and the French media regulator Arcom this week.
The group wants European Commission to investigate potential rule violations
The group is urging both regulators to take action under the Digital Services Act (DSA), which explicitly prohibits advertising based on sensitive user data like religion, race and sexuality.
'We express our deep concern regarding the use by X of users' sensitive personal data for targeted advertisements,' the organisations were quoted as saying. The report says that concerns of the group arose after reviewing X's Ad Repository, a publicly accessible database mandated by the DSA.
"We found that major brands as well as public and financial institutions engaged in targeted online advertising based on what appear to be special categories of personal data, protected by Article 9 of the GDPR, such as political opinions, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and health conditions,' they said.
The group is calling for regulators to investigate X for these alleged breaches of the EU's data privacy law, GDPR.
Earlier this year, a report said that the European Union (EU) may impose penalties on X after preliminary findings indicated violations of the DSA. The New York Times reported that the European Commission identified several areas where the platform allegedly failed to meet the DSA's standards. These included: Misuse of verified accounts, advertising transparency barriers and noncompliance with data sharing rules.
AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
7 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Fishers' body slams Govt for allowing deep-sea vessels
The All India Deep Sea Fishers' Association has come out against the Union Fisheries Ministry's decision to allow large vessels to operate in deep-sea areas beyond India's sovereign maritime zone. In a letter to Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying and Panchayati Raj Rajeev Ranjan Singh, the association said the decision will impact the fortunes of small-scale traditional fishing vessels. Association chief Charles George said the decision to allow Indian-owned vessels in deep sea was part of the Blue economy policy of the Union Government unveiled in 2020. 'We request the Union government… revitalise small-scale and traditional fishermen through modernisation, cooperative strengthening and fair subsidies.'' Urging the government to reject the push for industrial deep-sea vessels, the association said such a move will only worsen ecological and economic crises. George said as per Central government data, 3,14,677 fishing vessels operate within India's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). 'However, sustainable fishing practices require only 93,287 vessels… Yet, we cannot outright claim that we have crossed sustainability thresholds because we have predominantly small-scale and traditional vessels.'' The body rejected the government stand that allowing large vessels for deep-sea fishing will help tap the hitherto untapped resources. 'Only 4 per cent of India's fish wealth lies in deep waters… due to scarcity in deep waters, these vessels eventually encroach into near-shore zones. Now, with 1.5 to 4 lakh-watt LED lights at the huge vessels attracting fish from coastal waters, the pressure on already strained near-shore ecosystem will intensify… devastate thousands of small-scale boats operating in deep waters, where 64,000 fishermen are working,'' said the association chief.
Economic Times
37 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Astronomer's Andy Byron, Kristin Cabot Coldplay concert scandal: Reputation built in 10 or 20 years, can be lost in moment
Live Events FAQs (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel 'Coldplaygate' is the latest sensation in internet and particularly on the social media platforms. What happened with Astronomer's former CEO Andy Byron and Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot during a Coldplay concert in Foxborough, Massachusetts on Wednesday night is stark reminder that cameras are everywhere and a moment can possibly ruin professional careers and personal lives.A spokesperson for Astronomer on Friday night after the company issued a statement saying Byron had been placed on leave and that the company's chief product officer, Peter DeJoy, would serve as interim CEO. On Saturday afternoon, Astronomer issued another statement saying that Byron had resigned and that the board of directors would begin a search for his incident, which has dominated social media, was a stark reminder of how quickly things can spread thanks to social media and how cameras are surrounding people at all times. That is especially true at large concerts where fans are often recording snippets or streaming them on social media. Case in point: The video of Wednesday's interaction was posted by a concertgoer with a modest TikTok following. But thanks to the power of that app's algorithm, it had more than 77 million views as of Friday took only a few seconds of video for Byron and Cabot to thoroughly dominate internet discourse and become an instant meme, which many have called "Coldplaygate." From there, it turned into a broader discussion of privacy and why they had been wrong to assume they would not be seen and, potentially, recorded."If you're in a public place, there is absolutely no expectation of privacy," said Charles Lindsey, an associate professor of marketing at University at Buffalo School of Management. "When you're in a public place, whether it be a public park, a store, a concert, there are cameras, and if it's on camera, you can't take it back," she lesson had been learned by plenty of people before this was the time in May when the door of a plane carrying French President Emmanuel Macron had just been opened by staff in Hanoi, Vietnam, when his wife, Brigitte Macron, pushed him in the face. When he looked up and noticed a camera filming the scene from outside, he waved. The video quickly gained traction online, leading to a flurry of 2024, there was a great deal of debate over a woman posting videos on TikTok in which she assumed she was witnessing an extramarital affair taking place on a there was the infamous Met Gala elevator incident in 2014, where Solange Knowles was seen attacking Jay-Z while her sister, Beyoncé, stood watching and a bodyguard tried to restore order. The security-cam footage leaked to TMZ, and it became fodder for the public."We live in a very intrusive world, in terms of cameras and digital footprints," Lindsey said. "It can take 10 or 20 years to build a reputation, and you can lose it in a moment," she said.A1. Astronomer Inc's chief product officer, Peter DeJoy, would serve as interim CEO.A2. Astronomer is a data infrastructure company that works with companies to manage and automate data.
NDTV
4 hours ago
- NDTV
Singapore Faces "Serious" China-Linked Cyberattack
Singapore announced it was battling a "serious" cyberattack against its critical infrastructure, attributing the hack to an espionage group that experts have linked to China. The attack, a kind of Advanced Persistent Threat (APT), poses a serious danger to the city-state, Coordinating Minister for National Security K. Shanmugam said in a speech late Friday. An APT refers to a cyberattack where an intruder establishes and maintains unauthorised access to a target, remaining undetected for a sustained period of time. "I can say that it is serious and it is ongoing. And it has been identified to be UNC3886," he said. Shanmugam, who is also home affairs minister, did not elaborate on the group's sponsors or the origin of the attack. But Google-owned cybersecurity firm Mandiant described UNC3886 as a "highly adept China-nexus cyber espionage group". APT actors typically steal sensitive information and disrupt essential services, such as healthcare, telecoms, water, transport and power, minister Shanmugam said. "If it succeeds, it can conduct espionage and it can cause major disruption to Singapore and Singaporeans," he added. A successful breach of Singapore's power system, for example, could wreak havoc with the electricity supply, with knock-on effects on essential services, such as healthcare and transport. "There are also economic implications. Our banks, airports and industries would not be able to operate. Our economy can be substantially affected," he said. Between 2021 and 2024, suspected APTs against Singapore increased more than fourfold. A cyber breach on a public healthcare cluster in 2018 accessed the medication records of about 160,000 patients, including then-prime minister Lee Hsien Loong. On Saturday, China's embassy in Singapore expressed "strong dissatisfaction" with media reports linking UNC3886 to China. In a statement, the embassy said it "firmly opposes any unwarranted smearing of China" and that "in fact, China is one of the main victims of cyberattacks". The statement added: "China firmly opposes and cracks down on all forms of cyberattacks in accordance with the law. China does not encourage, support, or condone hacking activities." The attack on Singapore's critical infrastructure "highlights the extraordinary challenges posed by APT actors," said Satnam Narang, senior staff research engineer at US-based cybersecurity firm Tenable. "Combating such stealthy opponents is becoming increasingly demanding as the scale and complexity of IT infrastructure that organisations and nations must defend continues to grow," he said.
