BERLIN, Feb 7 (Reuters) - A German court has ruled that Elon Musk's social media platform X must provide information to researchers to track the dissemination of election-influencing content on the platform, according to Reuters.
The Berlin district court's decision comes in response to a suit filed by two civil rights organizations, seeking access to data for monitoring misinformation and disinformation ahead of Germany's February 23 national election.
The court emphasized the urgency of the request, stating, Waiting any longer for access to the data would undermine the applicants' research project since the period immediately before the election is crucial.
X had failed to comply with the court's initial information request, leading to an order that the company cover the 6,000 euro ($6,200) legal costs.
This ruling marks a significant victory for research freedom and democracy, said Simone Ruf, a lawyer from the German Society for Civil Rights (GFF), one of the plaintiffs.
X has not yet commented on the ruling.
The plaintiffs argued that X is obligated under European law to provide easily accessible information, such as post reach, shares, and likes, which are currently impractical to obtain due to the system's complexity.
The court's decision mandates X to disclose the data until shortly after the election.
Given the platform owner's support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), who are polling second behind the conservatives, monitoring misinformation on X is of particular interest.
In a controversial post in January, Musk, a Tesla titan and confidante of former President Trump, publicly endorsed the AfD with the statement, "Only the AfD can save Germany," followed by an interview with the party's leader Alice Weidel.
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