France has launched a criminal investigation into Elon Musk’s social media platform X over allegations that the company manipulates its algorithm to engage in “foreign interference.”
The investigators are also examining whether the social media platform has been extracting data from users in a fraudulent manner.
Magistrate Laure Beccuau announced the investigation on Friday.
The Bastille Post Global reports:
In January, the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office received two formal complaints, submitted respectively by a member of the French parliament and a senior official at a French public institution, Beccuau said, adding that both complaints alleged that X’s algorithm had been exploited for the purpose of foreign interference.
The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed in February that it was examining these complaints, before announcing on Friday that it had opened the investigation “based on verifications, input from French researchers, and information provided by various public institutions.”
Laurent Buanec, CEO of X France, stated on the platform in January that X “has strict, clear, and public rules aimed at protecting the platform from hate speech,” adding that it “fights disinformation” and that its algorithm “is designed to avoid recommending hateful content.”
According to a report by French newspaper Le Monde, the whistleblower suspects that X has manipulated its content recommendation algorithm to deliberately amplify far-right content and increase the visibility of specific candidates during recent elections in Europe.
The alleged crimes are classified as serious cybercrimes under the French Penal Code and carry a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 300,000 euros, according to the report.
Neither X nor Musk has publicly commented on the investigation.
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