By Marine Strauss and Philip Blenkinsop
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Fee mentioned on Friday it was stepping up its investigation into whether or not Elon Musk’s social media community X breached EU guidelines on content material moderation with requests for info and an order for it to retain related paperwork.
As a part of its investigation launched in December 2023, the EU government mentioned it was requesting X to offer by Feb. 15 inside documentation about its recommender system that makes content material solutions to customers, and any latest adjustments made to it.
“Today we are taking further steps to shed light on the compliance of X’s recommender systems with the obligations under the DSA,” EU digital chief Henna Virkkunen mentioned in an announcement, referring to the EU’s Digital Providers Act.
X proprietor Musk has repeatedly clashed with EU regulators, whereas some European politicians have accused him of meddling in elections, reminiscent of together with his streamed dialog with the chief of Germany’s far-right Various for Germany. Musk has mentioned the criticism is an affront to democracy and free speech.
The Fee issued a “retention order” requiring X to protect inside paperwork and data concerning future adjustments to the design and functioning of its recommender algorithms for the interval from Jan. 17 to the tip of 2025.
It additionally requested entry to sure of X’s technical interfaces.
“These steps will allow the Commission services to take all relevant facts into account in the complex assessment under the DSA of systemic risks and their mitigation,” the Fee mentioned.
