Automattic, the company that has leveraged the “WordPress” name using the domain WordPress.com, is now planning to sell a significant amount of data from blogs hosted on its platform. This move has sparked controversy and raised questions about data privacy and user consent.
WordPress.com and Tumblr, both part of Matt Mullenweg‘s companies, have a large user base. Mullenweg is one of the founders of the free software WordPress (hosted on WordPress.org), which has been a cornerstone of the blogging community for years. However, the recent developments regarding data sharing have caused serious concern among many users.
According to a report from 404 Media, Automattic is in talks with AI companies Midjourney and OpenAI to provide training data scraped from users’ posts published on WordPress.com and Tumblr. The report, based on an anonymous source inside the company, suggests that deals between Automattic and the two AI companies are “imminent.”
The report further alleges that internal posts suggest that the company has already scraped an “initial data dump” containing “all Tumblr’s public post content between 2014 and 2023.” This data reportedly includes content that wouldn’t be publicly visible on blogs, raising serious concerns about user privacy.
In response, Automattic released a statement saying, “We are also working directly with select AI companies as long as their plans align with what our community cares about: attribution, opt-outs, and control. We will only share public content that’s hosted on WordPress.com and Tumblr, and only from sites that haven’t opted out.”
It’s important to note that the option provided by Automattic is opt-in by default. This means that if you’re a user of these platforms, you must first learn about this option, find it in your control panel, and deactivate it if you don’t want your information to be sold.
While blogs hosted outside of WordPress.com that use Jetpack or WooCommerce (both Automattic products) are not initially considered in the data sale, it’s recommended to stay vigilant about changes in their policies and consider alternatives.
This development underscores the ongoing tension between tech companies’ desire to monetize user data and the rights of users to control their own information. As the situation continues to unfold, it’s crucial for users to stay informed and take necessary steps to protect their data.
Cover photo by Nikolay Bachiyski.
