noyb sues Scale AI over Outlier worker tracking and biometrics
Original title: European digital rights nonprofit noyb sues Scale AI for ‘invasive’ worker surveillance
Complaints in four EU countries allege keystroke logging and mandatory face video; Scale calls the claims inaccurate.
Austria-based noyb filed five complaints in France, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria alleging Scale AI’s Outlier platform tracks freelance workers’ web activity while they create AI training data and requires biometric identity checks. Noyb says some tracking records mouse clicks and keystrokes and that embedded third-party trackers can collect IP addresses, contact details and page data. Scale says the claims are unfounded, that screen recording is opt-in, and that identity checks are for fraud prevention and legal compliance. Noyb wants fines and government investigations.
Unconfirmed: Scale disputes the surveillance claims and says screen recording happens only if workers opt in.
- Noyb says an analysis found 18 third-party trackers on French freelancers and that the count is incomplete.
- Named trackers include TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, Sprig and Datadog.
- Workers must submit face video and ID documents to Persona, noyb says.
- Four freelancers who requested their data between December 2025 and May 2026 got no response, noyb said.
- Scale says it does not sell contributors’ personal data or use it to train customer models.
- Vendors
- Scale AI
- Countries
- FranceItalyNetherlandsAustria
From the original article
3 min read at therecord.mediaNoyb alleges the platform in some cases records freelancers’ mouse clicks and keystrokes every few seconds and claims the collected information can be used to generate video documenting freelancers’ entire workday.
therecord.media
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