In a post on Monday, Xs Global Government Affairs account denied the allegations, insisting the French investigation “egregiously undermines X’s fundamental right to due process and threatens our users’ rights to privacy and free speech.”
Preparing to fight the allegedly improper data grab, X accused a French politician, Eric Bothorel, of sparking the probe due to his supposed fears that X was manipulating its algorithm to influence French users’ political views. Earlier this month, Politico reported that French authorities suspected X of amplifying hateful, racist, and homophobic content.
To figure out if X was intentionally pulling the strings for nefarious purposes on its discovery engine, French authorities “requested access to X’s recommendation algorithm and real-time data about all user posts on the platform in order for several ‘experts’ to analyze the data and purportedly ‘uncover the truth” about the operation of the X platform,” X said.
CNBC reported: Elon Musk’s X on Monday denied allegations made by French authorities as part of a criminal investigation into alleged data tampering, adding that it would not submit to the prosecutor’s demands to hand over data.
X’s global government affairs account said the French investigation, which ramped up this month is “politically-motivated” and designed to “restrict free speech.”
“French authorities have launched political motivated criminal investigation into X over the alleged manipulation of its algorithm and alleged “fraudulent data extraction,” X said in a post on the social media platform. “X categorically denies these allegations.”
French prosecutors started an investigation in January over allegations that the company’s algorithm was being used for the purposes of foreign interference. The probe began after two complaints — one from a French member of parliament and another from a senior official at a public institution.
Politico reported: Social media giant X accused French prosecutors of playing politics when they opened a criminal probe to determine whether the Elon Musk-owned platform manipulated its algorithm for the purposes of “foreign interference.”
“French authorities have launched a politically-motivated criminal investigation, “X’s Global Government Affairs team said on Monday. “X categorically denies these allegations.”
The statement that X remains “in the dark as to the specific allegations made against the platform” but acted that any accusations of foreign interference were “completely false.”
The criminal investigation, which was opened earlier this month, comes as X is increasingly under fire from regulators across Europe. The European Commission has separately been investigating the Musk-owned platform for almost two years now on suspicion of breaching its landmark regulation, the Digital Services Act.