Researchers win a legal battle against the platform formerly known as Twitter, securing crucial access to social media data to probe potential election interference.

Summary

A German court ruled that Elon Musk’s X must immediately provide researchers with data on politically related content ahead of Germany’s Feb. 23 election.

The lawsuit, filed by Democracy Reporting International and the Society for Civil Rights, accused X of blocking efforts to track election interference.

The ruling enforces the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), requiring major platforms to grant researcher access. It also orders X to pay legal costs and imposes a €6,000 procedural fine.

The decision sets a legal precedent, but it remains unclear if X will appeal.

    • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      52 minutes ago

      It’s not like the EU can’t look at Brazil and see how to handle Musk. His platform doesn’t matter if people can’t use it.

  • wildflower@lemmy.worldEnglish
    46·
    3 hours ago

    €6,000 is peanuts to the worlds richest man, they should shut down access to the site until X comply.

  • DuckWrangler9000@lemmy.worldEnglish
    26·
    3 hours ago

    The fact that it hasn’t been banned outright in the EU is cowardice. This is such a horrible timeline we are living in. How in the world did the biggest governments in the entire world and legal systems just get cucked to the point where a literal hate platform ran by a Nazi sympathizer throwing sig heils all over the place is even allowed in Europe?

    • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      2 hours ago

      I wouldn’t be surprised if the politicians over there don’t realize there are alternatives. I have yet to meet a politician that I would consider tech literate, much less tech savvy, and I am including Bernie in that. He may be an awesome politician, but he really doesn’t understand computers. The nice part is that he knows that, and listens to his IT guys.

  • Dr. Moose@lemmy.worldEnglish
    141·
    3 hours ago

    All public social media data including the algorithm should be openly accessible to every government the network operates in.