The site formerly known as Twitter has said it will not hand over any information to French police over an investigation into its recommendation algorithms.
Earlier this month, French police announced [PDF] they were investigating X after a member of the nation’s parliament and a top official claimed that the social media network was manipulating its algorithm for nefarious purposes and abusing the data of its users. The prosecutors have demanded information on how the X algorithm is structured, and also want data on users and their behavior.
X named the politician as Eric Bothorel, a member of the National Assembly for President Macron’s Renaissance party.
“French authorities have launched a politically-motivated criminal investigation into X over the alleged manipulation of its algorithm and alleged ‘fraudulent data extraction.’ X categorically denies these allegations,” X’s Global Government Affairs said in a post on its own site.
“X has not acceded to the French authorities’ demands, as we have a legal right to do. This is not a decision that X takes lightly. However, in this case, the facts speak for themselves.”
Bothorel has reportedly been highly critical of X since Musk took it over in 2022, saying that it was limiting certain views and opinions, and complaining about “personal interventions from Elon Musk in the management on his platform.”
X alleges that the research will be biased against it, and claimed that two academics, David Chavalarias and Maziyar Panahi, respectively the director and AI leader of the Paris Complex Systems Institute, would be used to dig through the data. In 2023, they were coauthors of a paper in the journal Nature, which suggested that the X algorithm was amplifying toxic tweets.
“The involvement of these individuals raises serious concerns about the impartiality, fairness, and political motivations of the investigation, to put it charitably. A predetermined outcome is not a fair one,” the X team claimed.
It went on to contend that the French police were classifying X as an “organized gang,” along the lines of a drug cartel, and that they may try wiretapping the communications of X workers – despite investigators making no mention of any such potential surveillance.
In 2023, France enacted the LOPMI law – technically the Orientation and Programming Law of the Ministry of the Interior. This toughens up the French government’s powers when it comes to prosecuting the managers of sites that break legal boundaries.
It has already been used to detain Telegram’s founder and CEO Pavel Durov. He has since been released on €5 million bail and has pledged to have Telegram moderate its users more carefully to weed out criminal behavior.
However, that investigation was carried out into suspected criminal activities, not political interference. The French flics might have a much tougher time prosecuting X, although maybe Musk should leave La République off his holiday list for the time being. ®