In 2025, X suffered a catastrophic data breach stemming from misconfigured backend systems and insider threats during layoffs. Over 200 million user records (later expanded to 2.8 billion records totaling 400GB) were exposed, including emails, bios, follower counts, user IDs, locations, and interaction histories. The leak originated from legacy Twitter infrastructure clashing with new AI-driven features (e.g., Grok AI), bypassing privacy controls and enabling public API access to private data. Opportunistic scrapers and disgruntled employees exploited the vulnerability, fueling black-market data sales. The breach triggered regulatory investigations (GDPR, FTC), advertiser pullbacks, class-action lawsuits, and user migration due to eroded trust. Financial losses included $285,000/hour during outages, with long-term reputational and legal costs projected in the billions. The incident underscored systemic failures in access controls, transparency, and AI integration, amplifying calls for federal privacy reforms.