Privacy Group Files Five Complaints Against Scale AI Over Alleged Worker Surveillance

European digital privacy advocacy group noyb filed five complaints against Scale AI in France, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria, alleging that the company illegally monitored freelance workers who produce training data for artificial-intelligence models. The complaints were filed on Tuesday and ask regulators to investigate the platform and impose fines.

Complaints target the Outlier platform

The complaints concern Outlier, a platform on which more than 900,000 freelancers perform tasks that are recorded to create AI training data for clients including Meta, OpenAI and Google. Meta owns 49% of Scale AI. Noyb is also asking regulators to examine how Outlier assigns tasks.

The allegations have not been adjudicated and are not regulatory findings. Scale AI did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The complaints, reviewed by Reuters, said that as many as 19 trackers follow workers while they work, including tools that record keystrokes and mouse movements every few seconds.

Alleged tracking and identity checks

According to the complaints, the resulting file could be rebuilt into a video replaying a work session from start to finish. The claims came alongside an investigation by DiPLab, a Paris-based research collective. A researcher who spent two years studying the platform said workers did not simply work whenever they wanted because task availability and platform decisions shaped when work was possible.

Workers must also provide identity documents and a face video to Persona, an identity-verification company. The complaints said those checks were invasive, were repeated without explanation and breached EU rules governing biometric data. Whether the practices violate applicable law is for the relevant regulators and courts to determine.

Bonuses and access to worker data

DiPLab also found that Outlier uses game-like mechanisms and relies on bonuses as part of its incentive system. Its researcher said Outlier offered bonuses of $100 to $200 for completing 200 tasks in 24 hours, citing interviews with workers during the investigation. He compared the alleged gamification with conduct for which Italy's data-protection authority fined delivery platform Glovo in 2021.

The complaints further said that four workers asked Outlier for copies of their data between December 2025 and May 2026 and received no answer. That account is part of noyb's filing and remains an allegation.

Sources

• Reuters: Privacy group files complaints against Scale AI over alleged worker surveillance