Nandini Roy Choudhury, writer
Brief news
- X’s new terms of service, effective November 15, require users to allow personal data usage for AI training and impose $15,000 damages for excessive site use, prompting user migration to platforms like Bluesky.
- Bluesky has seen a 651% increase in app downloads since early November, while X and Threads have also experienced user growth.
- X’s terms raise concerns for researchers due to a $15,000 penalty for accessing over 1 million posts in 24 hours, unlike competitors Bluesky and Threads.
Detailed news
The new terms of service for X, effective November 15, are causing some users to abandon Elon Musk’s microblogging network.
The revised conditions encompass extensive permissions mandating users to permit the firm to utilize personal data for training X’s artificial intelligence models, while also holding users accountable for damages up to $15,000 if they excessively use the site.
The rules are causing some long-time users of the service, including both celebrities and ordinary individuals, to announce their migration of content to alternative platforms.
“In light of the recent and forthcoming modifications to the terms of service — coupled with the resurgence of erratic metrics — I find myself at a juncture that I can no longer wholly endorse,” actress Gabrielle Union stated on X on the day the new terms were implemented, while declaring her departure from the platform.
A person with the username @mplsFietser announced, “I will begin to deactivate my Twitter account.” The modifications to the terms of service are the definitive conclusion for me.
The exact number of people who have departed from X due to the new terms of service remains uncertain; nonetheless, since early November, numerous social media users have migrated to Bluesky, a microblogging startup with roots in Twitter, the former name of X. Several users with newly created Bluesky accounts have indicated that they transitioned to the platform owing to Musk and his endorsement of President-elect Donald Trump.
Bluesky’s mobile app downloads in the U.S. have surged by 651% since early November, as per estimates from Sensor Tower. During the same timeframe, X and Meta’s Threads have increased by 20% and 42%, respectively.
X and Threads possess significantly higher monthly user bases. While Musk asserted in May that X has 600 million monthly users, market intelligence firm Sensor Tower believes that X had 318 million monthly users as of October. In that same month, Meta said that Threads had over 275 million monthly users. Bluesky informed CNBC on Thursday that it had attained a total of 21 million users this week.
This document outlines the significant modifications in X’s updated service terms and their comparison with those of competitors Bluesky and Threads.
Artificial intelligence training
X is facing more criticism due to its revised conditions, which stipulate that any content on the platform may be utilized royalty-free for training the company’s artificial intelligence large language models, including the Grok chatbot.
The terms state that you consent to this license, which grants us the authority to (i) deliver, advertise, and enhance the Services, including, for instance, their application in the training of our machine learning and artificial intelligence models, whether generative or otherwise.
Furthermore, any “user interactions, inputs, and results” provided to Grok may be utilized for what it designates as “training and fine-tuning purposes,” as stated in the Grok part of the X app and website. This particular function, however, can be deactivated manually.
The conditions of X do not clarify if users’ private communications may be utilized for training its AI models, and the firm did not provide a response to a request for comment.
“You should exclusively furnish Content that you are at ease sharing with others,” stated a segment of X’s terms of service agreement.
Although X’s new terms may be extensive, Meta’s policies are not significantly dissimilar.
The creator of Threads utilizes “information shared on Meta’s products and services” to acquire its training data, as stated in the company’s Privacy Center. This encompasses “posts or images along with their captions.” Users outside the European Union lack a simple method to opt out of Meta’s AI training. According to its Privacy Center, Meta retains training data “for as long as necessary on a case-by-case basis to ensure an AI model functions appropriately, safely, and efficiently.”
According to Meta’s policy, private messages exchanged with friends or family are not utilized for AI training unless one participant in the conversation opts to share the content with the models, including Meta AI and AI Studio.
Bluesky, which has experienced a significant increase in user growth since Election Day, does not engage in generative AI training.
Bluesky stated in a post on its platform on Friday, and subsequently confirmed to CNBC, that it does not utilize any of your material to train generative AI and has no plans to do so in the future.
Monetary compensation for breach of contract
A distinctive feature of X’s new conditions is its “liquidated damages” provision. The terms stipulate that users who seek, view, or access over 1 million posts—including replies, videos, pictures, and others—within any 24-hour period are subject to damages of $15,000.
Although the majority of individual users may not readily reach that threshold, the phrase raises concerns for certain parties, particularly digital researchers. They depend on the examination of vast quantities of public posts from platforms such as X to do their tasks.
Alex Abdo, legal director for the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, stated in an October statement that X’s revised terms of service represent a “disturbing move that the company should reverse.”
“The public depends on journalists and researchers to ascertain the extent to which platforms influence public discourse, impact elections, and distort relationships,” Abdo stated. “One consequence of X Corp.’s revised terms of service will be to hinder that research at a critical time.”
Neither Threads nor Bluesky possesses a liquidated damages clause akin to that of X.
Meta and X failed to provide comments upon request.
Source: CNBC news
