X claims French probe 'politically motivated'

Elon Musk's social media platform X has vowed to fight an investigation in France into its alleged manipulation of algorithms to facilitate "foreign interference".

Police are considering charges of "altering the functioning of an automated data processing system as part of an organized criminal enterprise", France 24 reported.

X said prosecutors who launched the investigation and police who took it over earlier this month are playing politics.

"French authorities have launched a politically motivated criminal investigation," X wrote in a statement. "X categorically denies these allegations."

The statement said the company remains "in the dark as to the specific allegations made against the platform" but that any claims it has used "fraudulent data extraction" or facilitated foreign interference are "completely false".

The Politico news website said the investigation was triggered by centrist lawmaker Eric Bothorel, a member of President Emmanuel Macron's political party, who accused the platform in January of spreading "an enormous amount of hateful, racist, anti-LGBT+ and homophobic political content, which aims to skew the democratic debate in France".

France 24 added that a "senior official of a French public institution" had also made a complaint about the company.

Bothorel said in his complaint that he believes there has been "recent changes to the X algorithm, as well as apparent interference in its management" since Musk bought the company in 2022.

Critics believe the alleged disinformation has fueled the rise of the far-right in Europe.

The team investigating the claims told Politico it has asked X for access to its algorithms, so it can look into issues "brought to light by the initial investigations and expert reports". It said it will carefully guard any confidential material it has access to.

But X has responded by saying it will not hand over data or algorithms because of concerns about the impartiality of investigators.

"Based on what we know so far, X believes that this investigation is distorting French law in order to serve a political agenda and, ultimately, restrict free speech," the company said in a statement on its Global Government Affairs account.

The investigation follows a series of disputes involving the technology giant and the authorities in Europe in recent months that have included investigations launched by the European Union's executive branch, the European Commission, into suspected breaches of the bloc's Digital Services Act.

Musk, a South African who also holds United States and Canadian citizenship, has also been criticized in Europe for allegedly interfering in European elections, with his recent public support for Germany's far-right AfD party having caused particular irritation.

The growing dispute between European authorities and Musk look set to widen the gap between President Donald Trump's US administration and the bloc, with some senior Trump officials having already claimed right-wing voices are being censored globally.