Report from the Wall Street Journal
In Brief – The US Justice Department is declining to assist French authorities investigating X, describing the effort as a politically motivated misuse of the criminal justice system to regulate online speech in a way that conflicts with US First Amendment protections. Pushing back on alleged online censorship in Europe is a top priority of the Trump Administration. Officials of the Paris prosecutor’s office defended the independence of the French judiciary and said that they would continue their investigation regardless. The probe began in January 2025 after accusations that X’s algorithm promoted Musk’s political views. It has been expanded to include concerns over objectionable content including Holocaust denial, child sexual abuse material, and nonconsensual deepfakes. Authorities have sought access to X’s algorithm and summoned Elon Musk and company executives for interviews, although they could compel them with arrest warrants.
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 for 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 law’s regulation of “recommender systems” is different from regulating 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 aggressive digital regulation of platform like X, Telegram, and Shein.