2w ago

Elon Musk's X faces criminal probe in France over algorithm manipulation concerns

www.cnbc.com Elon Musk's X faces criminal probe in France over algorithm manipulation concerns

French prosecutors have opened an investigation into X over allegations that it distorted its algorithms.

Summary

French prosecutors have launched an investigation into Elon Musk’s X over allegations that it manipulated its algorithms to distort discourse.

The probe follows a report from a French lawmaker, citing "biased algorithms" that may have interfered with automated data processing.

Meanwhile, the EU is also investigating X for potential violations of the Digital Services Act, demanding internal algorithm documents by Feb. 15.

X has faced criticism for allegedly amplifying far-right content, with Musk publicly supporting Germany’s far-right AfD party.

World News @lemmit.online

Lemmit.Online bot @lemmit.online

BOT

2w ago

Elon Musk's X faces criminal probe in France over algorithm manipulation concerns

www.cnbc.com /2025/02/07/elon-musks-x-faces-criminal-probe-in-france-over-algorithm-concerns.html

1 0

You're viewing a single thread.

32 comments

X has been accused of manipulating its systems to give far-right posts and politicians greater visibility over other political groups.
Before Elon bought Twitter, the system did the exact same thing, but with left-leaning posts. Back then, the French prosecutors didn't seem to care. Now that the political tide is changing, they suddenly care?
- BBC: Twitter's algorithm favours right-leaning politics, research finds
  The Verge: Twitter’s research shows that its algorithm favors conservative views
  Salon: Contrary to popular belief, Twitter's algorithm amplifies conservatives, not liberals: study
  
  My guy with the receipts!
  
  Twitter 1.0 outright banned right-leaning users. Silencing dissenting voices from online political discourse isn't considered "gaming the system"?
  Does anyone remember when Twitter 1.0 censored stories about the Hunter Biden Laptop? On my book, that's manipulation.
  
  The problem was when lefties were in charge of Twitter's moderation team. They were trigger-happy in banning anyone who didn’t agree with their self-proclaimed "social consensus." In this last U.S. election cycle, we found out this consensus was a lie. Examples:
  User1: "I'm against illegal immigration. Deport the illegals now!"
  Mod: "Racist!! You're permanently banned!"
  User2: "We gotta have stricter laws for legal refugees. They don't respect our local customs and bring social issues (i.e., higher crime rates) that burden the taxpayer."
  Mod: "Nazi!! You're permanently banned!"
  User3: "I'm against hormonal therapies and sex-change surgeries on kids. We gotta have legislation that forbids it and makes doctors accountable."
  Mod: "Transphobe!! You're permanently banned!"
  They maliciously extrapolate dissenting opinions to paint them as something bad. People have the right to be dissatisfied with current policies and advocate for change. That shouldn't be a bannable offense.
  
  You need to have imaginary conversations with yourself to try to pretend you're not full of shit. What a bozo.
  
  I'm waiting for your counter-arguments. Or is ad hominem the only thing you know?
  
  Scroll up, dipshit. The first reply of your comment had 3 sources exposing your shitheadedness
  
  From The Verge article:
  "Twitter says that it doesn’t know why the data suggests its algorithm favors right-leaning content, noting that it’s “a significantly more difficult question to answer as it is a product of the interactions between people and the platform.” However, it may not be a problem with Twitter’s algorithm specifically — Steve Rathje, a Ph.D. candidate who studies social media, published the results of his research that explains how divisive content about political outgroups is more likely to go viral.
  The Verge reached out to Rathje to get his thoughts about Twitter’s findings. “In our study, we also were interested in what kind of content is amplified on social media and found a consistent trend: negative posts about political outgroups tend to receive much more engagement on Facebook and Twitter,” Rathje stated. “In other words, if a Democrat is negative about a Republican (or vice versa), this kind of content will usually receive more engagement.”
  If we take Rathje’s research into account, this could mean that right-leaning posts on Twitter successfully spark more outrage, resulting in amplification."
  In other words: it's not the algorithm that favors one side of the polical spectrum. It's just that right-wing users know how to make more engaging posts. And that is dispite being sabotaged by moderation policies that favors left-leaning views.
  
  God damn sealions
  
  I followed some pretty vocal british right leaning voices who seemed like more or less reasonable folk before they later ended up succumbing to Trump hysteria, and I can assure you they did not blanketly ban right wing users at all.
  Of the prominent right-wing voices they did, I'm struggling to remember ones that didn't deserve it at some point for one reason or another.
  I remember the Hunter Biden scandal being a hot mess to navigate not least of all because its biggest voices were some of the guiltiest of major misinformation, which made it hard for most reasonable folks to take seriously including the social media companies with Zuckerberg for FB coming out and saying they were limiting it till it could be verified by a third party.
  
  Congratulations on believing propaganda instead of your own eyeballs. The transformation is complete.
- Is there any evidence of it favoring left leaning posts?

32 comments