X announced an update to its Terms of Service on Wednesday, and all users will have to agree to these new terms in order to keep using the app.
Updated elements include a change to clarify that X’s legal dispute process will now be “handled in Texas courts under Texas law.” This is in line with X now being a part of SpaceX, which is primarily based in Texas.
There’s also an update to X’s user responsibility terms, with new language clarifying that users are responsible for how they use X’s services, “including features that perform autonomous actions on your behalf.”
That aligns with X owner Elon Musk’s previous proclamations that anybody who creates illegal content with its xAI tools will be personally liable for such.
Which also relates to this more interesting addition to X’s terms:
“Class action and jury trial waiver: Where permitted by law, we’ve updated our Terms to state that you and X waive the right to a jury trial, and, as in our prior Terms, you and X waive the right to bring or join a class, collective, or other representative action against the other. This applies to all users and, to the extent permitted by law, also covers our corporate affiliates.”
That’s a slight change on the previous wording of this element, which didn’t specifically note that users waive the right to a jury trial, as well as the right to participate in any class action suit.
That’s particularly relevant, because right now, X is in the midst of a class action lawsuit that was filed by a group of sexual abuse survivors who claim that xAI failed to safeguard against the generation and distribution of non-consensual sexualized imagery and child sexual abuse material via its Grok chatbot.
As reported by The Guardian, at least one of the plaintiffs in the case has alleged that xAI used pre-existing CSAM content as a reference element in Grok’s training.
As per the complaint: “Using pre-existing and known CSAM involving Plaintiff, Grok generated new CSAM, compounding the already extensive harm Plaintiff suffered. While its competitors enacted guardrails that directly prevent the use of their products to create nonconsensual sexual images of real persons, xAI chose to do the opposite. Worse, Grok did not just generate CSAM. By embedding Grok directly within its social media interface (X), xAI invented a product that both generates the content and instantly distributes it publicly — unlike other platforms where generation and distribution are separate tools or separate steps.”
The allegation, then, suggests that not only is Grok able to produce CSAM content, but that it had been specifically trained on illegal material, which could have significant implications for the project.
It’s interesting that X is now seeking to restrict users from taking part in future legal actions of this type against the business.
To be clear, Twitter had a similar provision in its Terms of Service, while Meta and TikTok also include similar legal waiver notes in the U.S. That hasn’t stopped people from bringing, or joining class action suits against those companies, so it may be that this is unenforceable either way. But it is worth noting that X is now highlighting this slightly reworded element as part of this update.
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