EFF and Allies Urge FTC to Reject X Corp.'s Bid to End Privacy Oversight

• EFF and allied civil society groups are urging the FTC to reject X Corp.’s petition to set aside or modify a 2022 privacy consent decree.
• The 2022 order mandates regular reporting on data security following violations involving the misuse of private contact information for targeted advertising.
• X argues that structural changes, new leadership, and a focus on AI innovation justify terminating the oversight, but critics emphasize that FTC orders bind the corporate entity, not specific personnel.

Background and Context

• The current order is a renewal of a 2011 settlement reached by Twitter (now X) after failing to secure user data against hackers.
• The 2022 renewal extended reporting requirements until 2042.
• X’s petition claims the company has undergone a "fundamental change" in its privacy philosophy.

Counterarguments to X’s Petition

• Ongoing Risks: EFF highlights that X recently integrated its Grok AI model in 2024 using user data without meaningful consent, and the platform suffered a major data breach in 2025.
• AI Innovation: X claims that compliance "diverts engineering resources" from AI, but the EFF argues that AI training introduces new risks of secondary data misuse, such as prompt-based data recovery.
• Financial Burden: The argument that compliance is too costly is dismissed by the EFF, which notes that such costs are negligible compared to the $200 billion valuation of X Corp. following the xAI merger.

Involved Parties

• Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
• Demand Progress Education Fund (DPEF)
• National Consumers League (NCL)
• Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)