Because of boost for Musk tweets: Twitter threatens trouble from Bavaria
Twitter could give the tweets of its boss and owner Elon Musk a greater reach than other content. If this were true, it would be a violation of a law in Bavaria. The media supervisory authority there is now investigating.
In mid-February, many Twitter users complained that their timelines were suddenly full of tweets from Elon Musk. The eccentric billionaire, who bought Twitter in 2022, is said to have given a corresponding order to the software developers. Apparently, Musk was somewhat irritated that one of his tweets about the Super Bowl had significantly less reach than one from US President Joe Biden. He even had his private jet flown to San Francisco immediately to have the "problem" solved at Twitter's headquarters and threatened the developers with dismissal if they didn't manage it. This is reported by the magazine Platformer.
As expected, there was no official confirmation of the incident from Twitter. And after a few days, the flood of Musk tweets died down considerably. Musk himself responded to the discussion with a meme. It showed a woman force-feeding another woman with a bottle. One woman was labelled as "Elon's tweets", the other as "Twitter".
Musk and Twitter are not threatened with trouble from Bavaria because of bad taste. But because of the possible and suspected manipulation of the algorithm in his favour. The Bavarian Media Authority (BLM), which is responsible for media supervision, is investigating the matter. Specifically, it concerns a violation of Paragraph 94 of the Media State Treaty. This states that so-called media intermediaries - Twitter is one such intermediary - may not discriminate against "journalistic and editorial content".
The algorithm on which Twitter is based is based on the preferences and interests of the user. If Musk tweets were actually displayed more frequently, this would be a manipulation of the algorithm, as the BLM President explained in an interview.
Does Twitter therefore have to fear being shut down in Bavaria or Germany? Probably not. In the interview, the BLM President describes the lengthy review process. The penalties range from a "complaint" to a block or a fine of 500,000 euros. Provided that manipulation can be proven at all.
Cover photo: Martin Jungfer
Journalist since 1997. Stopovers in Franconia (or the Franken region), Lake Constance, Obwalden, Nidwalden and Zurich. Father since 2014. Expert in editorial organisation and motivation. Focus on sustainability, home office tools, beautiful things for the home, creative toys and sports equipment.