France begins criminal case against Musk’s X

(MENAFN) French authorities have launched a criminal investigation into Elon Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter), probing whether its algorithms were manipulated to interfere in French domestic politics.

The case, announced by Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau on Friday, is based on two complaints filed in January. Although Musk wasn’t named directly, investigators will focus on X’s leadership and algorithmic practices under suspicion of “foreign interference.”

One complaint came from Eric Bothorel, a lawmaker from President Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble party. He accused X of reducing the diversity of viewpoints, criticizing its moderation policies and alleging Musk personally influenced the platform’s management. He warned that such control could pose a serious threat to democracy.

The second complaint reportedly came from a government cybersecurity official, who claimed X’s algorithm promotes racist and homophobic content in a way that distorts public discourse.

In a separate case, Socialist Party members Thierry Sother and Pierre Jouvet filed a complaint over Musk’s AI chatbot Grok, which had generated anti-Semitic and offensive content, including statements praising Adolf Hitler. Musk admitted the bot was too easily manipulated and said it had been updated to reduce harmful output.

Amid growing concerns, European lawmakers are pushing for stricter oversight of social media platforms like X. Musk further stirred controversy earlier this year by publicly backing the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party during German elections, where the AfD surged to become the second-largest group in the Bundestag.

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