Researchers win a legal battle against the platform formerly known as Twitter, securing crucial access to social media data to probe potential election interference.

Summary

A German court ruled that Elon Musk’s X must immediately provide researchers with data on politically related content ahead of Germany’s Feb. 23 election.

The lawsuit, filed by Democracy Reporting International and the Society for Civil Rights, accused X of blocking efforts to track election interference.

The ruling enforces the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), requiring major platforms to grant researcher access. It also orders X to pay legal costs and imposes a €6,000 procedural fine.

The decision sets a legal precedent, but it remains unclear if X will appeal.

  • RubberDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    4 hours ago

    A fine does not mean you get to keep doing it. Initially it just proves that tasking 4 people to just get the data would have been cheaper. Now he needs to do that and still task the people.

    Next step is escalating if they do not comply. They did the same in Brazil escalating all the way to turning off Twitter.

    I guess what I’m saying is “patience grasshopper”