Elon Musk's X Under Criminal Probe In France For Alleged Algorithm Manipulation And Hate Speech

French prosecutors have initiated a criminal investigation into X, a company owned by billionaire and Tesla Inc. TSLA CEO Elon Musk, for allegedly manipulating its algorithms to interfere with foreign affairs.

What Happened: The investigation is centered around whether X violated French law by altering its algorithms and illicitly extracting user data. This probe follows a previous inquiry initiated in January, based on complaints from a lawmaker and a senior civil servant, as stated by Magistrate Laure Beccuau, reported Politico.

The initial complaint alleged that X was disseminating a large volume of hateful, racist, anti-LGBT+, and homophobic political content aimed at distorting democratic discourse in France. On Thursday, two French parliamentarians referred the platform to France's digital regulator, Arcom, after X's AI chatbot, Grok, published anti-Semitic and racist posts.

The initial inquiry was triggered by a complaint filed by a lawmaker and a senior civil servant whose identity has not been disclosed. The investigation also includes the actions of Grok, an artificial intelligence chatbot that responds to user queries on X, which led to two French parliamentarians referring the platform to France’s digital regulator, Arcom, for anti-Semitic and racist posts.

X did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comment.

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Why It Matters: The European Commission has been independently investigating X for nearly two years over a suspected breach of the Digital Services Act. While the probe originally centered on the platform's role in spreading misinformation, it was broadened in January to scrutinize X's algorithms following Elon Musk's decision to host and stream an interview with Alice Weidel, the leader of Germany's far-right party.

Earlier this month, Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, parted ways with the company after a two-year tenure. Amid these changes, the current investigation into alleged algorithm manipulation adds another layer of complexity to the challenges faced by X.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.