German civic activists defeat Musk’s X in an election case

A German court said Friday that Elon Musk’s social media company X must make data available so that academics may monitor the dissemination of material that could influence the election on the network.

In an urgent application earlier this week, two civil rights organizations claimed they needed the data to track misinformation and disinformation ahead of Germany’s national election on February 23. The Berlin district court delivered its decision in response to their request.

In a decision obtained by Reuters, the court stated that “waiting any longer for access to the data would undermine the applicants’ research project since the period immediately before the election is crucial.”

The court further ordered X to pay the 6,000-euro ($6,200) cost of proceedings since the corporation had not replied to a request for information.

“This is a huge success for freedom to research and for our democracy,” said Simone Ruf, one of the plaintiffs and an attorney with the German Society for Civil Rights (GFF).

A request for comment from X was not immediately answered.

According to the GFF and Democracy Reporting International, X was required by European law to make easily accessible, collated information about post reach, shares, and likes available. This information is theoretically accessible by painstakingly scrolling through thousands of posts, but it is practically impossible to obtain.

The decision requires X to release the data starting now and continuing until soon after the election.

Given that its owner supports the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is now behind the conservatives in the polls, the dissemination of false material on X is especially concerning.

Tesla tycoon and Trump ally Elon Musk said in January, “Only the AfD can save Germany,” before to a live interview with Alice Weidel, the chairwoman of the party.