X, formerly known as Twitter, recently made significant changes to its terms of service (TOS). The changes that became effective November 15, 2025 are deemed to amend the terms of service to which users are bound under their user agreement.
Content License, Artificial Intelligence, and Data Usage
In exchange for using X, users have agreed to “provide [X] with a broad, royalty-free license to make your Content available to the rest of the world and to let others do the same…” This provision was part of the last terms of service and is a common feature of social media user agreements, which I will explore further in a future post.
X users have also agreed to the use of their content for the purposes of AI training, where the TOS states:
You agree that this license includes the right for us to analyze text and other information you provide and to otherwise provide, promote, and improve the Services, including, for example, for use with and training of our machine learning and artificial intelligence models, whether generative or another type.
Users in the United States and other countries outside of the EU, which has stricter data protection laws, cannot opt out of the consent to the use of their content.
X’s grant of a royalty free license to itself and disclosed intention of exploiting user content for AI training should raise concerns about user privacy and data security.
Governing Law and Forum
Effective November 15th, the laws of the state of Texas will apply to all disputes under the user agreement and such disputes must be commenced in either the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas or state courts located in Tarrant County, Texas. Formerly California law and courts located in the state of California were the designated governing law and forum, respectively.
X recently relocated from San Francisco, California to Bastrop, Texas. Oddly, Bastrop is located in the Western District of Texas, rather than the Northern District of Texas, begging the question why would X designate a federal district and county other than the one in which X is now located.
The most likely explanation is that X perceives the laws and bench in the Northern District of Texas and courts of Tarrant County to be more conservative and receptive to its litigation positions than California, or in the Western District of Texas or Bastrop County.
Forum selection clauses are common contract provisions and allow parties to agree to a forum even if neither resides or works there or the cause of action did not arise in the forum. Such clauses are typically upheld where the parties have equal bargaining power and the chosen forum is not unreasonably inconvenient.
Here, the forum change is being imposed on users without their consent, to a forum that is likely inconvenient to most litigants.
I would expect litigation to ensue over the enforceability of the forum selection clause given user’s unequal bargaining power and the location change to a forum to which X has no minimal contacts. X has likely taken the risk of such disputes into consideration when selecting the forum and anticipates the clause being enforced in Texas.
Takeaways
X was once touted as the electronic equivalent of the public square, a contention doubted by those suspicious of for-profit corporations controlling speech. Free speech concerns grew when Elon Musk acquired Twitter and rebranded it as X. Musk immediately enacted drastic changes to the platform, policies and management, resulting in an exodus of users and advertisers.
The recent relocation of X to Texas and the latest TOS changes reflect the next phase of the Muskification of X.
Setting aside the free speech considerations of remaining on the forum following the election and the implications from the nomination of Musk to run a new federal department concerned with government efficiency, Users should carefully consider whether the onerous TOS outweigh the benefits of the platform, particularly given the availability of alternatives like Threads and Bluesky, the latter of which has added one million users since the election.