The EU Demands Recommendation Algorithm Data of Musk’s X
Key Takeaways
- The European Commission demands internal documentation and access to X's commercial APIs related to content moderation and account virality.
- The investigation accused Musk of meddling in German politics by expressing support for AfD in a livestream ahead of Germany's February 23 elections.
- Initial findings of the commission suggest that Elon Musk's DSA-defined VLOP has not fulfilled its obligations, pointing to issues like paid-for verification.
The European Commission has intensified its investigation against Elon Musk-owned X for potential violations of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA). It has now demanded access to X's recommendation algorithms, along with data about any recent changes made to it, by February 15, 2025.
The commission has demanded X's commercial APIs and Internal documentation related to content moderation and account virality. The requested APIs include certain technical interfaces that allow direct fact-finding. This is intended to help the Commission service in the complex assessment under the DSA of systemic risks and their mitigation.
In addition to that, a retention order has been passed requiring these documents to be preserved for the period between 17 January 2025 and 31 December 2025 - except if the commission's ongoing investigation is concluded before that.
We are committed to ensuring that every platform operating in the EU respects our legislation, which aims to make the online environment fair, safe, and democratic for all European citizens. - Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy
As for the DSA's initial investigation, it was found that X, formerly Twitter, is the platform with the largest ratio of mis/disinformation posts, alleging that the platform failed to meet its responsibilities as a VLOP (very large online platform), as defined by DSA.
VLOPs are search engines or platforms that have more than 45 million users per month.
The Underlying Political ContextThis investigation was initiated after EC claimed that X had been used to disseminate disinformation about the Hamas/Israel conflict through fake/ manipulated images, leading to the circulation of false news among the masses and violence.
Recently, Musk hosted a livestream with AfD's Chancellor candidate, Alice Weidel, and publicly expressed his support for the party. This involvement in German local politics was frowned upon by politicians like Chancellor Olad Scholz who described this meddling as completely unacceptable."
This controversy raised suspicions about whether X has been favoring pro-AfD's posts on the platform. However, when asked about the timing correlation between the investigation and elections, Thomas Regnier, EU's spokesperson, denied the claims. He said that these steps are independent of political considerations or any specific recent events.
He further clarified that Musk's interference has nothing to do with this decision. This investigation is only to gain additional information to understand X's recommender systems better.
Germany's election is to be held on February 23. It'll be interesting to see if DSA is able to find something fishy in this whole investigation in the limited time it has from 15-23 February and take action to stop it.
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