Report from CNBC
In Brief – The Paris prosecutor’s office has announced that they have intensified their scrutiny of the social media platform X, as well as principal owner Elon Musk and former CEO Linda Yaccarino, converting an earlier inquiry into a formal criminal investigation. Musk and Yaccarino were summoned to Paris for questioning in April but declined to appear. The investigation originated from complaints filed by a French lawmaker who alleged that X manipulated algorithms to influence French politics. Authorities are also examining claims that users of the AI chatbot Grok generated and circulated Holocaust denial content and nonconsensual sexually explicit deepfakes on the platform. The US Department of Justice reportedly refused French requests for assistance in their investigation, arguing that France was improperly targeting an American company.
Context – The criminal investigation of X by Paris prosecutors began amid intense criticism of Musk by European leaders angered by his engagement on populist political battles in numerous countries. French President Emmanuelle Macron called for him to face personal sanctions for election interference and a legislator backing Macron called on the Paris prosecutors to get involved. They did. The Digital Services Act (DSA) is the EU law that regulates how platforms like X address illegal and objectionable content, and the European Commission is X’s lead regulator. Commission regulators are currently engaged in several investigations of X, including how its algorithms handle politically sensitive content and issues related to images created by Grok AI. The DSA’s backers say that the law protects free expression, but they also argue that the law’s regulation of “recommender systems” is different from regulating content itself. Of course, the law’s critics disagree. Along with directly poking the Trump Administration, the Paris prosecutor’s office increasingly appears to be a French Government tool to press Brussels on aggressive digital regulation of platform like X, Telegram, and Shein.