Elon Musk's X is refusing to hand over data to French authorities, claiming it's defending its users' free speech and privacy while branding a criminal investigation into alleged algorithm manipulation as "politically motivated."
In a post on Monday, X's Global Government Affairs account denied the allegations, insisting the French investigation "egregiously undermines X’s fundamental right to due process and threatens our users’ rights to privacy and free speech."
Preparing to fight the allegedly improper data grab, X accused a French politician, Eric Bothorel, of sparking the probe due to his supposed fears that X was manipulating its algorithm to influence French users' political views. Earlier this month, Politico reported that French authorities suspected X of amplifying hateful, racist, and homophobic content.
To figure out if X was intentionally pulling the strings for nefarious purposes on its discovery engine, French authorities "requested access to X’s recommendation algorithm and real-time data about all user posts on the platform in order for several 'experts' to analyze the data and purportedly 'uncover the truth' about the operation of the X platform," X said.
But X appears to have garbled some of the facts in its rush to reject the request, which may cast doubt on the alleged bias. Most glaringly, X seems to insist that Bothorel alone "instigated" the probe, while the Paris Prosecutor's Office said in its January press release that the investigation was prompted by "two reports from a Member of Parliament and a senior official of a French public institution."
Additionally, X identified two allegedly biased experts as primed to analyze the X data to help rig the probe, and at least one of them has denied any involvement.
X claimed that David Chavalarias, "who spearheads the 'Escape X' campaign"—which is "dedicated to encouraging X users to leave the platform"—was chosen to assess the data with one of his prior research collaborators, Maziyar Panahi.
"The involvement of these individuals raises serious concerns about the impartiality, fairness, and political motivations of the investigation, to put it charitably," X alleged. "A predetermined outcome is not a fair one."
However, Panahi told Reuters that he believes X blamed him "by mistake," based only on his prior association with Chavalarias. He further clarified that "none" of his projects with Chavalarias "ever had any hostile intent toward X" and threatened legal action to protect himself against defamation if he receives "any form of hate speech" due to X's seeming error and mischaracterization of his research. An Ars review suggests his research on social media platforms predates Musk's ownership of X and has probed whether certain recommendation systems potentially make platforms toxic or influence presidential campaigns.
"The fact my name has been mentioned in such an erroneous manner demonstrates how little regard they have for the lives of others," Panahi told Reuters.
X denies being an “organized gang”
X suggests that it "remains in the dark as to the specific allegations made against the platform," accusing French police of "distorting French law in order to serve a political agenda and, ultimately, restrict free speech."
The press release is indeed vague on what exactly French police are seeking to uncover. All French authorities say is that they are probing X for alleged "tampering with the operation of an automated data processing system by an organized gang" and "fraudulent extraction of data from an automated data processing system by an organized gang." But later, a French magistrate, Laure Beccuau, clarified in a statement that the probe was based on complaints that X is spreading "an enormous amount of hateful, racist, anti-LGBT+ and homophobic political content, which aims to skew the democratic debate in France," Politico reported.
X appears most perturbed to be classified as an "organized gang." That's a status, it said, that is "usually reserved for drug cartels or mafia groups." Through this designation, X claimed that French cops could "deploy extensive investigative powers under French law, including wiretapping the personal devices of X employees" to track the alleged criminality on X.
But France appears to be attempting to crack down on platforms perceived as enabling organized crimes. Last year, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested and detained in France for his alleged complicity in "web-mastering an online platform in order to enable an illegal transaction in organized group." Durov was also charged with complicity in drug trafficking and distribution of child pornography. He denies all charges.
At the time, Beccuau said Telegram had a "near-total lack of response" to French cops' requests for information that could break cases related to crimes against minors, drug crimes, and online hate. In a statement, Telegram claimed that it had always followed the law and criticized the arrest, calling it "absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform."
Musk has seemed to join Durov on this issue, responding "true" to an X post where Durov accused French "bureaucrats" seeking X data of "waging a crusade against free speech and tech progress."
It's possible that France could face pressure to pause the probe after the European Union halted its own investigation into X while seeking to further trade talks with Donald Trump, a former Musk ally who may perceive the probe as threatening right-wing speech. The Paris Prosecutor's Office has not yet commented on X's decision to withhold data.
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