France Opens Probe Into X Over Algorithmic Bias

French prosecutors said they have opened an investigation into social media platform X, formerly Twitter, over alleged algorithmic bias.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said it opened the probe after being contacted last month by a lawmaker who alleged that biased algorithms on X were likely to have distorted the operation of an automated data processing system.

French lawmaker Eric Bothorel, who belongs to president Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble Pour La Republique party, said he wrote to the J3 cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office with concerns that X was using biased algorithms.

“I sent a letter to the cyber J3 prosecutor’s office on this subject on January 12,” Bothorel wrote on X.

Influence concerns

The Paris public prosecutor’s office said in a statement about the investigation that “prosecutors and specialised assistants from the cybercrime unit are analysing it and carrying out initial technical checks”.

The J3 cybercrime unit led an investigation last year that led to the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov after he arrived at a Paris airport.

Durov, who is out on bail, has denied the allegations, but Telegram has said it is cooperating with police to remove illegal content.

Regulators have shown increasing wariness over X since it was purchased by entrepreneur Elon Musk in 2022.

The platform is under investigation by the European Union for possible violations of the Digital Services Act, which requires large platforms to remove harmful content.

EU probe

In January the European Commission said it asked X to hand over internal documents regarding its algorithms by 15 February as part of the ongoing probe.

X has been accused of manipulating its algorithms to give more prominence to far-right posts and politicians, while Musk has publicly supported Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party ahead of an upcoming general election this month.

X was blocked in Brazil for more than a month in 2024 for refusing to block content as mandated by court orders, before eventually complying with mandates from the Supreme Court.