Key Points
- Nine civil rights groups filed a complaint against Elon Musk’s X platform with EU regulators.
- The complaint alleges that X has illegally used sensitive user data, including religious and political views, for targeted advertising.
- This practice may violate the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which bans such ad targeting.
- The groups claim to have found evidence by reviewing X’s own public Ad Repository.
Nine civil society organizations have filed a complaint against Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, with European regulators. They claim the company is using sensitive personal data to target users with ads. This practice could breach strict EU tech rules.
The groups, which include Global Witness and the Centre for Democracy and Technology, took their complaint to the European Commission and France’s media regulator, Arcom. They are urging the officials to take action under the Digital Services Act (DSA). This law specifically prohibits advertising based on a user’s private information, such as their race, religion, political opinions, or sexual orientation.
The organizations said their concerns arose after they investigated X’s own Ad Repository. This is a public database that X is required to maintain under the DSA. The groups stated that in this database, they found ads from major brands and financial institutions that appeared to be targeted at users based on their health conditions, political views, and other protected personal data.
In a joint statement, the groups expressed “deep concern” over X’s advertising practices. They are now calling on the regulators to launch a full investigation into the platform. The complaint also references the EU’s well-known data privacy law, the GDPR. So far, X, the European Commission, and Arcom have not commented on the matter.
