French prosecutors have initiated a criminal investigation into X, a company owned by billionaire and Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, for allegedly manipulating its algorithms to interfere with foreign affairs.
The initial complaint alleged that X was disseminating a large volume of hateful, racist, anti-LGBT+, and homophobic political content aimed at distorting democratic discourse in France. On Thursday, two French parliamentarians referred the platform to France's digital regulator, Arcom, after X's AI chatbot, Grok, published anti-Semitic and racist posts.
The initial inquiry was triggered by a complaint filed by a lawmaker and a senior civil servant whose identity has not been disclosed. The investigation also includes the actions of Grok, an artificial intelligence chatbot that responds to user queries on X, which led to two French parliamentarians referring the platform to France’s digital regulator, Arcom, for anti-Semitic and racist posts.
X did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comment.
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Earlier this month, Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, parted ways with the company after a two-year tenure. Amid these changes, the current investigation into alleged algorithm manipulation adds another layer of complexity to the challenges faced by X.
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