The Paris public prosecutors office announced today the opening of an investigation against the way algorithms on X function, following a notification by tech-savvy MP Eric Bothorel on 12 January.
The prosecutors suspect that X skewed its algorithms, which in turn is suspected to have biased the automated processing of data.
Judges and specialised assistants from the cybercrime division are reviewing Bothorel’s notification and carrying out the initial technical assessments, the prosecutor’s office told Euractiv.
Given the changes in X’s content recommendations and the potential amplification of certain content, Bothorel decided to flag these as compliance issues to the French judiciary, which has been prosecuting Telegram founder and tech billionaire Pavel Durov.
The French MP expressed concerns that X owner Elon Musk is influencing political and democratic processes, especially in Germany.
Moreover, Bothorel told Euractiv he decided to act “in light of the silence from European authorities.”
The Commission has been under heightened scrutiny for its lack of a swift reaction. The European Commission is currently investigating X for six different possible breaches of its EU’s content moderation law, the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The French authority in charge of applying the DSA in France, the Arcom, was further notified by French MEP Aurore Lalucq (S&D) in January for an alleged manipulation of X algorithms by its owner Elon Musk.
Arcom referred to the Irish authority, the DPC, as X established its EU headquarters in Ireland.
Separately, the Berlin court ruled today that X must provide researchers with data to monitor the German elections, following complaints from electoral monitoring organisations to which X had previously denied access, also a requirement of the DSA.
Multibillionaire, X owner and US government official Elon Musk is expected to come to Paris during the AI Summit happening on 10 and 11 February.