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.
€6,000 is peanuts to the worlds richest man, they should shut down access to the site until X comply.
Even 1000x that fine would just be a rounding error to him. What gives with the low-ball punishment?
Legal penalties are often (mostly?) a set monetary amount. We need percentage penalties.
As of now it’s just a small thing. If X keeps denying the requested information the penalty can increase quickly by for example by setting a daily late fee of several million Euro. If X still doesn’t comply they can raid their German offices for the requested information. If X still doesn’t comply they can shut X down in Germany, maybe even in all of EU to force compliance.
But usually you don’t need the extreme stuff.