Report from Reuters
In Brief – French authorities have raided X’s Paris offices as part of an expanded criminal investigation into the social media platform over its handling of unlawful content. The probe, which began last year as an investigation of the platform’s recommendation algorithms and data practices, now covers seven alleged offenses, including the dissemination of Holocaust denial material, involvement in the distribution of child sexual abuse content, and most recently the use of the platform’s AI tool, Grok, to generate sexualized images. The raid was conducted by the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office. The French authorities have also summoned current and former X executives, including owner Elon Musk and former chief executive Linda Yaccarino, to voluntary interviews scheduled in Paris in April.
Context – The criminal investigation of X by the Paris prosecutors began a year ago amid intense criticism of Elon Musk by European leaders angered by his personal engagement on contentious political topics in numerous countries, often aggressively attacking progressive officials and backing populist conservatives. French President Emmanuelle Macron called for him to face personal sanctions for “election interference” and a centrist legislator backing Macron called for the Paris prosecutors to get involved. They did. The Digital Services Act (DSA) is the EU law that regulates how digital platforms police illegal and objectionable content online, and the European Commission is the lead regulator for the largest platforms, which includes X. The Commission is engaged in several investigations of X, including over how its algorithms handle politically sensitive content, and most recently, on issues related to Grok. The DSA’s backers say that the law protects free expression, but they also argue that law’s regulation of “recommender systems” is different from regulating the content itself. Of course, 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 digital regulation, as X, Telegram, and Shein know.