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WeTransfer Issues Flurry of Promises that It's Not Using Your Data to Train AI Models After Its New Terms of Service Aroused Suspicion
JUL 15 – WeTransfer updated its terms after user confusion about file use for AI, confirming no files are sold or used for AI training, the company said. Critics included creative professionals.
WeTransfer updated its terms of service beginning late June or early July 2025, with changes taking effect on August 8, causing user backlash over data usage concerns.
The update initially included a clause allowing use of uploaded content to improve machine learning models for content moderation, which many users interpreted as permission to train AI models with their files.
In response to widespread social media criticism, especially from creative professionals, WeTransfer removed references to machine learning and clarified that it does not use files to train AI models or sell data to third parties.
A WeTransfer representative told the BBC that the company does not utilize AI or machine learning techniques to handle users' files, nor do they distribute user content or personal information to external parties, highlighting that users maintain full ownership and control over their data.
WeTransfer’s swift revisions and clarifications aimed to make terms clearer and reassure users, but the incident highlights ongoing industry tensions about data rights and AI training consent.
If you share files through WeTransfer, you grant the company the right to train an AI program to detect malicious or illegal files, the Dutch company wrote in its new terms of service. However, after media reports, that passage was removed. "No," the company now emphatically states. "We do not use your files to train AI programs." WeTransfer says it hasn't done so, but only considered doing so. Despite the new terms, nothing changes how WeTransf…