France has launched a criminal investigation into the social media platform X, owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk, over suspicions of foreign interference—a move condemned by the United States on Friday.
The inquiry follows two formal complaints filed in January, alleging that X’s algorithm was used to meddle in French politics from abroad. On July 11, cybercrime prosecutors in Paris ordered police to investigate whether any criminal offences were committed.
“As part of a criminal investigation, an activist French prosecutor is seeking information about X’s proprietary algorithm and has classified X as an ‘organised crime group,’” the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor wrote on its official X account.
“Democratic governments should allow all voices to be heard, not silence speech they don’t like. The United States will defend the free speech rights of all Americans against foreign acts of censorship.”
One of the complaints came from Eric Bothorel, a lawmaker from President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party, who criticised Musk’s “personal interference” in the platform since acquiring it. “Democracy is too fragile to allow the owners of digital platforms to tell us what to think or who to vote for,” he said when announcing the probe.
Last week, X rejected the accusations as “politically motivated” and said it would not comply with the prosecutor’s demands for access to its recommendation algorithm and real-time user data.
