Elon Musk — or his company, X, at least — has been given until mid-February to provide the European Commission with details of how its recommendation algorithm works.
The request is part of a wider investigation by the EC to ensure that X is complying with the Digital Services Act (DSA). Many would be interested to learn something about how the recommendation system of this and other social media platforms works, and the Commission has further demands as well.
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Citing a desire to “make the online environment fair, safe, and democratic for all European citizens”, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, stressed the importance of ensuring X’s compliance with European legislations.
In all, there are three new measures being added to the existing investigatory proceedings into X:
First, the Commission is requesting the company to provide internal documentation on its recommender systems and any recent changes made to it, by 15 February 2025.
In addition, a ‘retention order’ requires the platform to preserve internal documents and information regarding future changes to the design and functioning of its recommender algorithms, for the period between 17 January 2025 and 31 December 2025, unless the Commission’s ongoing investigation is concluded beforehand.
Finally, the Commission issued a request for access to certain of X’s commercial APIs, technical interfaces to its content that allow direct fact-finding on content moderation and virality of accounts.
The latest additions put X under further scrutiny in a probe which has been going on since 2023.
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