Privacy advocates warn FTC: Musk's X poses serious risk to Americans' data

Privacy and consumer protection advocates are pushing back hard against Elon Musk’s X Corp., which is trying to end the FTC’s ongoing audits of the platform’s data handling. In a letter to the FTC ahead of a July 2 comment deadline, 15 groups—including Demand Progress, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the National Consumers League—argued that X's petition fails to meet the legal standard and that Musk's leadership poses a “serious risk to Americans’ privacy and data security.” X had claimed that its rebrand from Twitter and compliance with European GDPR made the FTC order unnecessary, but advocates counter that Musk’s changes have only heightened concerns.

Key issues cited include: the global backlash over Grok, which three girls sued for generating child sexual abuse material; a massive 2.8 billion record data leak from the platform; and X’s controversial decision to train its AI on user posts without meaningful consent—a practice advocates liken to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. They also note that the FTC previously found Musk directed employees to violate the order. Opt-out methods exist but are “practically invisible,” with 73% of users unaware their tweets train Grok. The advocates demand the FTC firmly reject X’s attempt to escape accountability.