Elon Musk's X under scrutiny over targeted advertising practices

The civil society organisations urged European Commission and the French media regulator Arcom to take action under the Digital Services Act (DSA) which prohibits ad targeting based on sensitive personal data such as religion, race, and sexuality

By  Storyboard18| Jul 16, 2025 5:03 PM

Elon Musk's microblogging and social networking platform, X (formerly Twitter), is under scrutiny after nine civil society organizations filed complaints with the European Commission and French media regulator Arcom. The complaints allege that X's use of user data for targeted advertising may breach EU tech regulations.

The organizations — including AI Forensics, the Centre for Democracy and Technology Europe, Entropy, European Digital Rights, GFF, Global Witness, Panoptykon Foundation, Stichting Bits of Freedom, and VoxPublic — urged regulators to take action under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The DSA prohibits ad targeting based on sensitive personal data such as religion, race, and sexuality.

A media report notes that the regulators expressed serious concern about X's data practices. However, they also added that major brands, along with public and financial institutions, are also using targeted advertising based on special categories of personal data — including political opinions, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, and health conditions — which are protected under Article 9 of the GDPR (referring to EU data privacy law).

First Published onJul 16, 2025 5:01 PM

SPOTLIGHT

DigitalFrom Clutter to Clarity: How Video is transforming B2B storytelling

According to LinkedIn’s research with over 1,700 B2B tech buyers, video storytelling has emerged as the most trusted, engaging, and effective format for B2B marketers. But what’s driving this shift towards video in B2B? (Image Source: Unsplash)

Read More

Arattai App: All you need to know about Zoho’s made-in-India "WhatsApp killer"

Discover Arattai, Zoho’s made-in-India messaging app. Features, privacy, user growth, and how it compares to WhatsApp in 2025.