Brussels will take “new measures to shed light on the compliance of X’s recommendation systems” with the Digital Services Regulation (DSA), announced this Friday, January 17, the European Commissioner for Technological Sovereignty, Henna Virkkunen. The European Commission asked the American social network to provide before February 15 “internal documentation on its recommendation systems and any recent changes made to them”.
In addition, she announced a “preservation order” which forces the platform to “preserve internal documents and information regarding future changes in the design and operation of its recommendation algorithms, for the period January 17, 2025 to December 31, 2025”unless the Commission’s ongoing investigation, opened in December 2023, is concluded before that date.
Musk increases support for the far right
Finally, the Commission issued a “request for access to certain commercial APIs of X”technical interfaces allowing direct access to content to check content moderation and the virality of accounts. Brussels is under pressure from MEPs and member states to act firmly, as Elon Musk is suspected of manipulating its algorithms to support the far right in Europe. The boss of Tesla and CEO of SpaceX has, in recent weeks, increased his declarations of support for the far-right German party AfD in view of the legislative elections on February 23 in Germany.
Polls credit this party with second place with at least 20% of the vote, behind the conservatives currently in opposition. Last Thursday, Elon Musk hosted a live debate with AfD chancellor candidate Alice Weidel on his X platform.
-“Independent” measures of its positions
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz this Friday accused the American billionaire close to Donald Trump of threatening democracy in Europe by supporting the far right. “He supports the far right all over Europe, in Britain, in Germany and in many countries. This is unacceptable and endangers the democratic development of Europe.”said Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, during a press conference with his Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson.
The world’s richest man also called for the release of British far-right activist Tommy Robinson and supports the anti-immigration Reform UK party. He met the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, a key figure of the radical right, when the latter visited Donald Trump in Florida at the beginning of December. But the new European measures are “independent” of its positions which fall under freedom of expression, indicated the EU.
