The Pulse
noyb Files Five GDPR Complaints Against Scale AI
noyb filed five GDPR complaints against Scale AI in France, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria over alleged tracking and biometric checks on Outlier. The privacy group says the platform collects worker data through third-party trackers and
AI.info Team · Written with AI · fact-checked ·
“Such constant and extensive tracking while working really goes against all reasonable expectations. Why should LinkedIn or Facebook know which tasks you're working on?”
Lisa Steinfeld Leiser, Data Protection Lawyer at noyb
noyb filed five complaints against Scale AI on October 27, 2026, alleging that the company’s Outlier platform tracks freelance workers and requires invasive identity checks. The complaints went to data-protection authorities in France, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria, with two filed in Austria. noyb worked on the filings with Intérêt à Agir, DIPLab and Reversing.Works.
The complaints allege violations of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, including unlawful processing and failure to answer workers’ requests for their personal data. They ask regulators to investigate and consider administrative fines. Those are allegations in complaints, not findings by the authorities.
Outlier’s trackers are central to the complaints
Scale AI operates Outlier as a platform for people who help train and evaluate AI systems. noyb says the platform has more than 900,000 freelance workers and names Meta, OpenAI, Google and the U.S. government among its customers. The tasks can include writing prompts, assessing model answers and checking work in specialist fields.
According to noyb, its technical analysis found third-party trackers on the platform, including trackers associated with TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, Sprig and Datadog. The group says those tools transmit personal information every few seconds, including IP addresses, contact details, unique identifiers and information about which page a worker visits. noyb argues that placing the trackers without consent lacks a valid legal basis and collects more data than necessary.
The French complaint offers a closer look at the evidence described in one filing. It says a worker’s browser records showed trackers sending information about the worker, the project and task availability; one example identified whether a task had been assigned and why none was available. The complaint also describes a Fullstory tracker that captured events such as task status, mouse movements and entries in form fields. The filing is available in noyb’s redacted French complaint.
Persona handles repeated identity checks
The complaints also challenge Outlier’s identity verification through Persona. noyb says workers must upload identification and record video of their faces, with checks repeated at intervals. Scale AI says the process helps prevent identity fraud and verify workers’ skills, according to noyb’s account.
In the French filing, the complainant says they created an Outlier account, completed about 50 tasks in April 2025 and later continued logging in while waiting for more assignments. The complaint says the worker sent Scale AI an access request on February 2, 2026, asking in part whether the company made automated decisions about them, and had received no response when the complaint was filed. It also says a separate request to Persona received an acknowledgment but no substantive answer.
Regulators are being asked to examine the whole workflow
noyb’s case joins several points in the platform’s handling of workers’ data: tracking during work, biometric checks during verification and access requests that the group says went unanswered. The group argues that the processing violates GDPR principles on data minimisation and access rights, alongside rules governing trackers. The filings ask authorities to examine those practices and impose fines if they establish violations.
The distinction matters: the complaints lay out noyb’s interpretation of the evidence and its legal arguments, while the regulators have yet to decide whether Scale AI breached the law. The specific French filing describes one worker’s experience; the five complaints bring related challenges before authorities in four countries.