Aimed by a criminal investigation of French justice, the platform X, accused of foreign interference, denounced on Monday a “political agenda” and refused to access the requests of the Paris prosecutor’s office requiring access to its algorithm (AFP / Sebastien Bozon)
Aimed by a criminal investigation of French justice, the X platform, suspected of having biased its algorithm after accusations of foreign interference, denounced on Monday a “political agenda”, and says that she refused to access the requests of the Paris prosecutor’s office requiring access to his algorithm.
“On the basis of what we know so far, X believes that this investigation deforms French law in order to serve a political agenda and, in the end, to restrict freedom of expression”, writes in a post on X the public affairs department of the American social network, owned by Elon Musk.
“For these reasons, X did not access the requests of the French authorities, as we have the legal right to do,” he said.
According to X, the French authorities have requested access to their recommendation algorithm as well as real -time data concerning all publications of the users of the platform.
The Paris prosecutor’s office had indicated on July 11 that an investigation had been entrusted to the gendarmerie concerning the X network, as a legal person, and against the “natural persons” who direct it.
This survey, entrusted to the Directorate General of the National Gendarmerie, relates “in particular” to the alteration of the operation of an automated processing system of organized band and the fraudulent extraction of data of an automated processing system in organized band.
The investigation comes after two reports received in January which “reported the supposed use of the X (ex-Twitter) algorithm for foreign interference”, according to the public prosecutor.
One of these reports came from a deputy specializing in these questions, Eric Bothorel, member of the party of President Emmanuel Macron, who had alerted justice to “recent changes in X algorithm, as well as apparent interference in his management since his acquisition by Elon Musk” in 2022.
X “categorically denies” the accusations of manipulation of his algorithm for foreign interference purposes, “an allegation which is completely false,” replied the social network on Monday.
“This investigation, initiated by French politician Eric Bothorel, seriously infringes the fundamental right of X to regular procedure and threatens the rights of our users to private life and freedom of expression,” he also argued, while regretting the appeal of the French authorities to two experts whom he accuses of being hostile to him.
“The involvement of these people raises serious concerns about the impartiality, fairness and political motivations for this investigation,” said the platform.
