X Corp., the company formerly known as Twitter, recently sued Bright Data over its site scraping activities. Bright Data is a data collection company and advertises-among other services-its "website scraping" solutions. Scraping is not new, nor are lawsuits attempting to stop the activity. We may, though, see a rise in these suits with the rise in companies using them in conjunction with generative AI tools.

This case -and the counts X is alleging- serves as a reminder of the concerns that platforms have about scraping practices. In particular, social media sites that allow users to post personal information. (Indeed, in January Meta filed a similar suit against a different data collection platform). Namely, X has argued:

  • Breach of contract: X's terms of service, like those of most platforms, prohibits scraping ("scraping the Services without our prior consent is expressly prohibited"). X argues that by scraping usernames, tweets, and even more granular data about users, Bright Data violated that online contract with X.
  • Tortious interference with contract: Bright Data, in addition to scraping itself, also sells scraping tools. Third parties can use these tools to scrape the data on their own. X argues that by providing these tools, Bright Data is helping others violate X's contracts with those third parties.
  • Unjust enrichment: Finally, X argues that Bright Data's receipt of financial benefits (selling the data obtained from scraping) constitutes unjust enrichment.

In addition to a preliminary and permanent injunction, X is also asking that Bright Data identify all recipients of information scraped from the X platform.

Putting It into Practice: With the rise of artificial intelligence and other passive information collection activities, this case is a reminder to those considering using information gathering tools. If using online information gathering tools, do diligence to understand how the information has been gathered.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.