Court rules X must give privacy researcher access to personal data in privacy case

The Amsterdam Court of Appeal has ruled that entrepreneur and privacy expert Danny Mekić is entitled to see the personal data held on him by X. The company had challenged an earlier district court decision that reached the same conclusion.

In October 2023, Mekić reposted an NOS item on X discussing criticism of EU plans to tackle child sexual abuse material, which included the term “child pornography.” Shortly afterwards, his account became no longer visible to other users, without any notification from the platform.

When X failed to provide a clear explanation, Mekić requested access to the data it held on him. Unsatisfied with the response, he brought the case before the courts.

A 2024 court ruling required X to give Mekić access to information about its system within a month, under a penalty of 4,000 euros per day for non-compliance, with no cap on the total amount. X challenged the order, arguing that disclosure would risk revealing confidential business information, especially details of its internal scoring system known as Guano Notes.

The court ruled that X is not required to disclose all requested information. Mekić will not receive detailed timestamps showing when tweets are flagged or reviewed. X argued that such data would expose how quickly its systems respond to content, potentially enabling manipulation by bots, and the court accepted that reasoning. The company also does not need to reveal employee identities, something Mekić had already said he did not require.

Ahead of the appeal, X attempted in vain to overturn the penalty through expedited legal proceedings. It also failed in an effort to secure a gag order preventing Mekić from speaking about the case.