The European Commission has asked X to hand over internal documents
about its algorithms, as it steps up its investigation into whether Elon Musk’s social media platform has breached EU rules on content moderation.
X has been under investigation since December 2023 under the EU’s
content law – known as the Digital Services Act (DSA) – over how it
tackles the spread of illegal content and information manipulation. The
company has been accused of manipulating the platform’s systems to give far-right posts and politicians greater visibility over other political
groups.
The EU has come under growing pressure in recent weeks to take action
after a series of interventions by Musk into European politics.
“Today we are taking further steps to shed light on the compliance of
X’s recommender systems with the obligations under the DSA,” the EU
digital commissioner, Henna Virkkunen, said in a statement.
The commission played down reports this week that it was reviewing its investigations against big tech companies, stressing that they were
continuing as normal and Trump’s return to the White House did not
affect its commitment to enforcing its laws.
Johnny Ryan, a tech litigator, said it was “positive” that Virkkunen “is taking the opportunity to publicly signal that the EU will enforce its
law on its soil”.
He said the retention order was “an important step” and was used after
the Romanian election manipulation involving TikTok.
Some European politicians have accused Musk of meddling in elections,
such as with his streamed conversation with Alice Weidel, the leader of
the AfD, earlier this month. The commission has said Musk is free to
speak his mind and can hold live streams with politicians but is
assessing whether algorithms boost a single narrative and “shadow-ban” other views, posing a risk to fair elections.
Musk has said the criticism is an affront to democracy and free speech.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/17/eu-asks-x-for-internal-documents-about-algorithms-as-it-steps-up-investigation
Just ban X, formerly Twitter. And cook up the offences later. It's of no
use to anybody with an attention span.
--
“We need to acknowledge he let us down. He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him. We shouldn’t have listened to him, and we can’t let that happen ever again”.
-- Nikki Haley
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)