French prosecutors probe Elon Musk's X over alleged algorithmic bias

Musk has used X to personally support right-wing parties and causes in countries including Germany and Britain.

French prosecutors said on Friday they have opened an investigation into Elon Musk's X social media platform over alleged algorithmic bias.

News of the probe comes just days before a major AI summit in Paris, which is due to host global leaders including U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as Alphabet and Microsoft executives.

The Paris prosecutor's office said it launched the investigation after being contacted on January 12 by a lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms in X were likely to have distorted the operation of an automated data processing system.

X, formerly known as Twitter, did not respond to a request for comment.

The investigation underlines growing global wariness over the power of X, the name given to Twitter by tech billionaire Musk after he bought the social media network.

Musk has used X to personally support right-wing parties and causes in countries including Germany and Britain, leading to concerns about undue foreign interference.

French centrist lawmaker Eric Bothorel, posting on X, said he had written to the J3 cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutors' office with his concerns that X was using biased algorithms, a report by Franceinfo said.