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.

  • Krik@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    5·
    4 hours ago

    As of now it’s just a small thing. If X keeps denying the requested information the penalty can increase quickly by for example by setting a daily late fee of several million Euro. If X still doesn’t comply they can raid their German offices for the requested information. If X still doesn’t comply they can shut X down in Germany, maybe even in all of EU to force compliance.

    But usually you don’t need the extreme stuff.