¶Companies like X and Meta are very happy to scrape the web at unprecedented scale and without permission, but have zero tolerance for the same to be done to them by, in effect, individual users. That is not because they are protective of the creative works users have contributed to these platforms. It is simply because users are not trusted to use the platforms. X does not permit third-party readers, and neither does Instagram, because their value does not come from us using these services as we wish, but from how they dictate we must. Bafflingly, however, some argue they should face little responsibility for those choices.
¶Part of the web has always been open for scraping, but the platforms have always operated in the other part. The closed part. The part that has never been open for scraping. Scrape or otherwise copy their content and you’re likely violating their terms of use. For this reason, I don’t have an issue with X sending these cease and desist letters.
¶In fact, AI companies are being sued by publishers for doing the same thing. It’s hard to support the New York Times in its suit while opposing these cease and desist letters from X. I’m assuming X scraped the web as a whole for training Grok, but I’m not entirely sure about that. Seems like X would be added to this suit if so.
¶The problem, for me, seems to lie in this: the platforms have no problem asserting their rights while trampling those of others.