The Paris public prosecutor’s office said it has opened an official investigation into social media platform X, formerly Twitter, over suspicions that its algorithm may be biased in favour of foreign influence.
The office’s cybercrime division opened the investigation on Wednesday, 9 July, following two complaints filed earlier this year, the prosecutor’s office said on Friday.
Inquiries into X and its leadership have been entrusted to the French military police by the public prosecutor’s office, chief prosecutor Laure Beccuau said.
Foreign interference
The company and its leadership are suspected of deliberately disrupting data processing and fraudulent data extraction as part of organised criminal activity, the office stated.
French politician Eric Bothorel in January alerted the public prosecutor’s office to the alleged use of the X algorithm for the purpose of foreign interference.
Bothorel’s complaint said changes to X’s algorithm had also led to a reduction in the diversity of voices on the platform that he said posed a threat to democracy.
The second complaint, published by Le Canard in February, came from a director of cybersecurity in the public sector who alleged changes to X’s algorithm had led to a sharp rise in hate speech on the platform, in a threat to France’s democratic discourse.
The public prosecutor’s office said at the time that it was studying the allegations.
In its announcement last week it said it had formally opened the investigation based on verifications, the contributions of French investigators and elements provided by public institutions.
Hate speech
It didn’t provide further details, such as the foreign country whose interference was allegedly favoured by the algorithm changes.
The prosecutor’s office investigation began on the same day that X chief executive Linda Yaccarino resigned after two years in the post.
A day before Yaccarino’s resignation, chatbot Grok, which is prominently offered through X, reportedly began offering antisemitic comments and praise of Hitler in response to users’ queries.
In response to this, Poland asked the European Commission’s technology chief Henna Virkkunen to take action.
In France, two French MPs referred this case to the country’s content regulatory authority on 10 July, according to local media reports.
X said Grok had been manipulated into praising Hitler.
