Irish data protection authority investigates Grok again

The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) is investigating whether X used personal data from EU users without valid consent to train its AI system Grok. The investigation focuses on public posts from users in the EU and European Economic Area. X had previously committed to permanently stop this practice following a court case last year, which led the DPC to end its earlier investigation. The renewed scrutiny may have been triggered by Elon Musk's xAI acquiring X. As Ireland's lead EU regulator, the DPC can impose fines of up to four percent of a company's global revenue for violations of the General Data Protection Regulation. X was last fined €450,000 by the DPC in 2020. Elon Musk, X's owner, and former US President Donald Trump have repeatedly criticized EU regulations targeting US tech companies.