The Daily Populous Saturday February 8th, 2025 evening edition
Authored by politico.eu and submitted by MiniBrownie

Social media platforms, including X, are already getting European Commission scrutiny over alleged failures to mitigate risks around election interference. Russia was accused of interfering in Romania's annulled presidential election late last year, via a TikTok campaign that boosted a pro-Kremlin candidate.

The case adds to mounting tensions between European regulators and Musk’s social media platform over its rolling back of content moderation and refusal to accede to data access demands.

The DSA, which came into force in 2022, requires large platforms to grant researchers access to data to study systemic risks. The Commission already accused X in July last year of breaching the DSA for not meeting requirements around researcher data access. It also quizzed Meta last year over its decision to shut down research tool CrowdTangle.

The Berlin Regional Court sided with the plaintiffs, issuing an urgent injunction that forces X to provide real-time access to the requested data via its online interface until Feb. 25. The ruling also orders X to pay legal costs and imposes a €6,000 procedural fine, setting a precedent for how European courts may enforce transparency obligations under the DSA.

X did not immediately respond to POLITICO's request for comment.

The digital space is not a lawless zone, and I trust that X will now quickly comply,” said Michael Meyer-Resende, executive director of DRI, adding that the platform's refusal to cooperate had “forced” legal action.

AdminEating_Dragon on February 8th, 2025 at 12:38 UTC »

This is a first step but it won't matter at all if more drastic measures aren't taken when Musk doesn't comply or finds a way to go around the law again.

And I don't mean fines. Fines mean nothing for people that rich - our system wasn't designed to deal with an individual having that kind of money.

We need to go after Musk personally with criminal charges and arrest warrants, and go after his political tools (starting with X) with bans, seizures of property etc.

Anything less means that Musk wins because he will throw enough money and resources at the problem until he gets his way.

Go after his freedom and his voice. That's the only way.

potato_v_potato on February 8th, 2025 at 12:00 UTC »

If he doesn’t comply I wonder if the German government will have the ability to shut X down

bpeden99 on February 8th, 2025 at 11:46 UTC »

Musk is literally changing politics to his liking in the US. Don't let him influence your nation's sovereignty.