After a period of uncertainty, the European Commission is reacting. In a laconic press release, the European executive explained on Friday 17 January that it was taking "additional investigative measures in the context of the ongoing DSA (European Digital Services Regulation) procedure against X", Elon Musk's platform. This time, it is a question of "shedding light on the compliance of X's recommendation systems with the DSA obligations," explains Henna Virkkunen, the Commission's vice-president responsible for technological sovereignty, quoted in the press release.
The billionaire, who will soon be a special advisor to Donald Trump at the White House, has been strongly criticized on the Old Continent for his interference in the German elections, and his support for the local far-right candidate of the AFD, a candidate with whom he spoke on January 9 on his platform. He is also accused of favoring, with his algorithm, the visibility of certain content (such as his own or that broadcast by personalities he supports), to the detriment of others.
This announcement marks a change of direction, three days before Donald Trump's inauguration at the White House. The European Commission had been walking on eggshells until then. On the one hand, she feared angering the future American president before his inauguration on January 20, the latter having promised to increase customs duties, or to end the war in Ukraine "in twenty-four hours". On the other hand, she had to react firmly to the various statements made by American tech bosses in recent weeks. Mark Zuckerberg notably accused European digital laws of being, nothing more and nothing less, "censorship", with EU antitrust rules being described as "customs duties".
Today's announcement by the Commission also comes more than a year after Brussels opened a formal investigation into the billionaire's platform, the very first under the aegis of the DSA, the European regulation on digital services. The company is suspected of not respecting its obligations in terms of transparency and the fight against illegal content and disinformation on X.
The Commission wants to know more about X's algorithms and recommendation systems
The European Commission is now making three new demands on X: the platform must "send internal documents on algorithm changes, retain all data relating to these changes, and provide access to commercial APIs". These "technical interfaces with its content make it possible to obtain direct information on the moderation of content and the virality of accounts", explains the European executive in its press release.
In other words, the Commission wants to know more about X's algorithms and recommendation systems. The platform has until 15 February to "provide internal documentation on its recommendation systems and any recent changes made to them". All these elements allow the Commission to assess the systemic risks of X, and the measures taken by the platform to mitigate them: obligations with which Elon Musk, CEO of X, is supposed to comply.
Source: Communiqué of the European Commission of 17 January 2025
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