Scale AI rejects European complaints over surveillance of AI-training workers

Scale AI on October 28 rejected allegations that its Outlier platform unlawfully monitors the freelancers who help train AI systems. Its response follows five privacy complaints filed by noyb in four European countries. The dispute reaches beyond screen recording to third-party tracking, facial verification and workers’ ability to obtain their own data.

Privacy group noyb filed the complaints on October 27 in France, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria, with two in Austria. It says Outlier has more than 900,000 freelance workers. Their tasks include writing prompts and ranking answers—human judgments used to train AI systems.

Tracking goes beyond the work screen

According to noyb’s technical analysis, trackers associated with TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, survey platform Sprig and analytics company Datadog operate while workers use Outlier. The group says these trackers send personal data to third parties every few seconds. That information includes IP addresses, contact details, unique identifiers and details about the page a worker has visited.

Noyb spokesperson Mickey Manakas told The Record that its analysis identified 18 third-party trackers affecting French freelancers. That is not a platform-wide total: Manakas said the number varies by country and the analysis was not comprehensive, focusing primarily on social-media trackers and analytics. Noyb says the information collected can be used for targeted advertising and profiling.

Scale draws a line around opt-in recording

Scale called the claims unfounded and inaccurate. In its statement to Reuters, the company said its practices are disclosed to contributors and require their consent. It described its tools as standard measures to verify identities, prevent fraud, protect confidential project information and ensure workers receive accurate payments.

A spokesperson said certain projects use a separate tool that records time spent and screen activity. Contributors opt into that tool and manually activate it before starting work, the spokesperson said. Scale also disputed noyb’s allegations about third-party trackers in its response to The Record.

The company separately said it does not sell contributors’ personal data to third parties or use that information to train customers’ AI models.

Face checks and unanswered data requests

The complaints also target identity checks carried out through Persona. Noyb alleges that workers must repeatedly submit facial video recordings and identification documents to earn money on Outlier. Scale defended identity verification as a way to combat fraud and misuse and comply with European law. It told The Record that workers can request deletion of verification data at any time.

Under the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, noyb’s complaints raise three distinct objections:

• Legal basis: The group alleges Scale lacks a valid basis for placing trackers on complainants’ devices without consent.
• Data minimisation: It argues that tracking and biometric processing go beyond what is necessary.
• Access rights: Four freelancers sought copies of tracking and verification data between December 2025 and May 2026, but received no response, noyb says.

Noyb is asking data protection authorities for a full investigation and an administrative fine to deter similar violations. Its allegations remain contested by Scale; the filings are complaints seeking enforcement, not findings that the company has broken the law.