- On 27 October 2026 noyb filed five GDPR complaints against Scale AI, operator of the Outlier platform, in France, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria.
- The allegations: trackers on workers' devices without consent, and overly broad biometric checks.
- Scale AI says the claims are unfounded and inaccurate.
In short: on 27 October 2026 the organisation noyb announced five complaints against Scale AI, the company behind the Outlier platform, where people rate AI answers and prepare data for training models. The complaints concern GDPR violations. For now these are allegations, not a ruling.
What noyb alleges
- While workers use the platform, trackers (TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, Sprig, Datadog) run on their devices and send data to third parties every few seconds, including IP addresses and identifiers.
- Workers must repeatedly pass biometric verification through the company Persona: face video and an ID upload.
- Scale AI allegedly had no legal basis for installing the trackers without consent, broke the data minimisation principle and ignored data access requests.
- The complaints went to authorities in France, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria (two). noyb wants a full investigation and a fine.
What the company says
According to The Register, Scale AI calls the allegations “unfounded and inaccurate”. It says Outlier’s practices are disclosed to contributors and require their consent, and that standard tools are used to verify identity, prevent fraud and protect confidential projects.
How to read this
noyb is an organisation that has been filing complaints against tech companies for years, so it is a party to the dispute. The figures and the description of the trackers come from its announcement, and a DiPLab research report from 15 October 2026 describes similar practices. Only the data protection authorities will settle it. I cover AI law in the AI Act and law hub.