X Versus Europe: France Leads Criminal Case as EU Users Abandon Platform

One of the more controversial social media platforms, X, is under criminal investigation in France. In the current tariff-turmoil between the United States, the home of X, and the European Union, this case opens another front of dispute, now about digital regulations.

X responds to an accusation from the French authorities, saying that the case is politically motivated. What exactly is X accused of? The social media platform was accused of data tampering and fraud and strictly denied the accusation in a lengthy post, discrediting the investigators. The investigation involves two cases, which include an “automated data processing system”. In France, this offense can lead to jail time of up to 10 years.

Two people brought information to the prosecutor’s office – a member of the parliament and a senior government official. They both accuse X’s algorithm of being used for “purposes of foreign interference”. The police asked for access to the algorithm as a part of the investigation, meeting with refusal from the side of X. 

The investigation started already in January of this year, but this month, the case was passed on to a key unit of the French national police. The initial complaint involved accusing X of spreading “an enormous amount of hateful, racist, anti-LGBT+ and homophobic political content, which aims to skew the democratic debate in France,” as reported by POLITICO.

Not The First Hit From Europe

The platform’s popularity in Europe has been plummeting. As a part of compliance with DSA, X had to share this information. 1.1 million users from Belgium alone left the platform since 2023 (until April 2025). And the trend is by far not native to Belgium. Since November 2023, more than 30 million users from the European Union have left the platform. Interestingly, in some countries, like Poland or Luxembourg, almost half of users left, while in Belgium, the figure is just above the average as reported by ITdaily.

Source: Unsplash

The French case is not the first that hit Elon Musk’s platform from Europe. The first penalties based on regulations defined in the Digital Services Act (DSA) came earlier this year, after nearly 2 years. The investigation by the European Commission tackled how X handles the spreading of illegal content and information manipulation. However, this investigation has been paused amidst the tariff negotiations between the United States and Europe.

The preliminary findings of the DSA investigation on X were calling out the blue checkmark “verified” status, which can be subscribed to by anyone, thus not granting any real verification, citing malicious actors abusing the blue checkmark to deceive users. Next, there is the lack of transparency over advertising, such as missing any database and also fails to provide any data for research, even the public data. 

Musk has been labelling the DSA as a censorship tool since its implementation. The US Federal Communications Commission followed suit, saying it is not compatible with the free speech tradition in America.  

“Freedom of expression lies at the heart of our European values. It is also at the core of the Digital Services Act. The DSA sets out rules for online intermediaries to tackle illegal content, while safeguarding freedom of expression and information online. Nothing in the DSA obliges online platforms to remove lawful content,” said Thomas Regnier, a spokesperson for the European Commission on topics of tech sovereignty for PulseZ.

Meta and Apple already Fined by the EU

Meta and Apple were already fined for hundreds of millions of euros, however, under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and not DSA. Unlike Meta, under DMA, the enforcement is more straightforward, without a chance to avoid paying the fine. The DMA builds on competition law, whereas the DSA is a new legislation, which still needs to create more straightforward ways of enforcement. 

“The Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA) differ in that the DMA aims to make digital markets fairer and more competitive, hence it protects business users (such as developers) and it regulates companies designated as ‘gatekeepers’, meanwhile, the DSA aims to make the online space safer for users, and to safeguard our fundamental values online and it sets out obligations for online platforms and stricter obligations for the designated ‘very large online platforms and search engines’,” said Regnier.