Elon Musk’s X has denounced a French criminal investigation into its algorithm and data practices as allegedly “politically motivated”.
The US billionaire’s company accused the French authorities of allegedly engaging in biased and ideological interference.
The probe announced on July 11, alleged that X manipulated its algorithm to promote so-called “hateful content” supposedly aimed at “skewing democratic debate” in France.
The platform was accused of alleged “foreign interference”.
Authorities sa#id this amounted to alleged “abuse of algorithmic power and fraudulent data extraction”, serious charges under French law, carrying up to 10 years in prison and €300,000 in fines.
But X disagreed. In a statement shared on July 21, X management rejected the legitimacy of the investigation, refusing to co-operate with what it branded a campaign against the platform’s freedom of expression.
Marine Tondelier, national secretary and leader of The Greens party in France, has said she wants to shut down Elon Musk’s X if it fails to bow to censorship demands. https://t.co/ZCJMEPNitz
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) November 20, 2024
To justify itself, the platform implied that the French investigation’s use of “several experts” to analyse X algorithm was biased.
The company called out the “experts” that the French prosecutor’s office was using to evaluate the platform’s algorithm. The prosecutors mentioned “contributions from French researchers” without naming them.
X named two of them: David Chavalarias and Maziyar Panahi, accusing both of alleged open hostility toward the platform. Chavalarias was reportedly behind the HelloQuitteX campaign urging users to abandon the Musk-owned network.
Panahi, according to X, has collaborated closely with Chavalarias on research projects.
“The involvement of these individuals raises serious concerns about the impartiality, fairness, and political motivations of the investigation, to put it charitably,” X claimed in a statement.
Chavalaris published a book about Musk in which he looked at the tech mogul’s ideas and motivation “through 50 of his tweets”.
“The first 100 days of the 47th President of the United States have plunged the world into science fiction. A sexual predator and financial criminal becomes president of the leading nuclear power; America submits to Moscow; the word woman becomes taboo in academia; the US federal government is torn apart; a rocket and electric car tycoon [Elon Musk] promises to make Europe great again by supporting the far Right, while assuring humanity a bright and hopeful future on the Red Planet… by 2030,” an online summary of the book read.
The complaint that kicked off the probe came from a civil servant in cybersecurity and French MP, Éric Bothorel.
Bothorel alerted the justice system to “X’s recent algorithm changes, as well as apparent interference in its management since its acquisition by Elon Musk” in 2022.
According to X, the investigation instigated by Bothorel “egregiously undermines X’s fundamental right to due process and threatens our users’ rights to privacy and free speech”.
On July 21, speaking to French media and reaction to X’s decision, Bothorel accused the company of “sticking two fingers up at the French” as it allegedly declined to co-operate with the authorities.
He then warned that Article 40 of the European Union’s Digital Services Act could potentially be used to compel X to hand over algorithmic and data access to “research communities”.
“We have a legislative arsenal to respond to this kind of intimidation or misunderstanding, among them Article 40 of the DSA, which says that the big platforms must open up their algorithms and data to communities of researchers, ” he said.
US lawmakers have accused the European Commission of weaponising its “regulatory regime” to “silence American speech” online. https://t.co/8w63AUQrwJ
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) July 4, 2025
This was not the first time that scientists or researchers had complained about the lack of algorithm transparency of social media platforms.
For Bothorel, what was at stake was “whether Elon Musk has indeed modified his platform to promote content that is favourable to him and that comes from the far Right”.
European politicians accused Musk of allegedly spreading and supporting an EU right-wing agenda.
Recently, the X artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Grok has offended with a series of vulgar messages about Polish politicians, including left-leaning Liberal Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok has caused offence with a series of vulgar messages about Polish politicians on the US billionaire’s X platform. https://t.co/lX94SZgnNQ
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) July 9, 2025
Critics said they saw the French investigation as yet another attempt by European governments to muzzle platforms they did not control.
Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, who was once arrested and charged by French authorities, weighed in on July 22, saying: “At this point, any tech company can be declared a ‘criminal gang’ in France.
“A decade of efforts to attract tech investment is being undone by a few bureaucrats advancing their careers and political agendas — at the expense of the French people,” he added.
Pavel Durov, the owner of social media platform Telegram, has criticised French authorities over his arrest in August. https://t.co/a4LqeMMyuS
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) September 6, 2024
