Scale AI reported to European authorities over alleged privacy violations
Workers are hired to train AI, not to feed the advertising machine, noyb argues.
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- Noyb filed five GDPR complaints against Scale AI in four European countries.
- The complaints allege Outlier lets third-party trackers collect workers’ personal data every few seconds.
- Noyb says Scale AI unlawfully uses biometric checks involving face videos and ID uploads.
- The group wants regulators to investigate Scale AI and impose fines to stop similar practices.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
Noyb, a Vienna-based NGO that works to enforce digital privacy rights, has filed 5 complaints against Scale AI for unlawfully tracking European workers and invasive biometric verification.
The US-based company operates an AI training platform called Outlier, which employs over 900,000 workers who are hired via businesses like Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google to train their AI models by solving tasks, including writing prompts and ranking answers.
According to noyb, Scale AI’s Outlier platform subjects its workers to invasive tracking. Technical analysis shows that while workers are on Outlier, companies such as TikTok, LinkedIn, and Facebook place trackers on their devices.
The privacy advocacy group claims that these trackers send the workers’ personal data to third parties every few seconds, including their IP address, contact information, unique identifiers, and browsing history. This data is used for targeted advertising and profiling.
“Such constant and extensive tracking while working really goes against all reasonable expectations. Why should LinkedIn or Facebook know which tasks you're working on?” says Lisa Steinfeld Leiser, a data protection lawyer at noyb.
To make matters even worse, Scale AI forces its workers to repeatedly go through a biometric verification process carried out by a company called Persona. This process includes uploading video recordings of their face and ID.
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This goes beyond what is necessary to prevent identity fraud, noyb argues. On top of that, Persona grants itself the right to collect large amounts of personal data, including IP addresses, device information, geolocation data, addresses, and consumer credit data.
“The violations highlighted in the complaints against Scale AI clearly show that the AI boom relies on a vast workforce whose privacy is at stake. Data protection authorities must now take these issues seriously and impose strict enforcement measures,” Baptiste Delmas, project coordinator at Intérêt à Agir, warns.
To put a stop to these practices, noyb has filed 5 GDPR complaints against Scale AI in Austria, France, Italy, and the Netherlands.
According to the privacy advocacy group, Scale AI has no valid basis for placing trackers on workers’ devices without consent, doesn’t practice data minimization, and unlawfully processes biometric data. Furthermore, the AI company doesn’t respond to access requests.
Noyb is asking regulators to launch a formal investigation and impose an administrative fine to prevent similar violations in the future.
