Canadian privacy commissioner to investigate X's use of personal data to train AI

Privacy Commissioner of Canada Philippe Dufresne waits to appear at the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in Ottawa on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. Privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne says he will investigate whether social media platform X is respecting the law concerning use of Canadians' personal information. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle

OTTAWA — Privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne says he will investigate whether social media platform X is respecting the law on the use of Canadians' personal information.

In a letter to New Democrat MP Brian Masse, Dufresne says he will look at whether X complies with federal privacy law concerning the platform’s collection, use and disclosure of personal data to train artificial intelligence models.

Masse asked Dufresne in a letter earlier this week to look into whether the platform is placing Canadians' “personal information in jeopardy.”

In his response, Dufresne said an investigator from his office has been assigned to look at the AI issue.

Dufresne said other issues raised by Masse — related to the use of X on the devices of government employees and parliamentarians — fall outside his jurisdiction.

In 2022, billionaire Elon Musk purchased Twitter and subsequently rebranded it as X.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 26, 2025

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press