German media authority BLM will not take regulatory action against Twitter (now X) because of the ‘reach booster’ for tweets by owner Elon Musk.
The supervisory authority had “not been able to identify any obvious violation of the requirement of non-discrimination under the Interstate Media Treaty (MStV)”, and regulatory proceedings have therefore not been initiated, a BLM spokeswoman told Broadband TV News.
“In the course of an intensive exchange with the law firm representing Twitter/X, it has been stated to us that they are and will be complying with the requirements of German media regulation. BLM will remain in dialogue with Twitter/X,” the spokeswoman explained, adding that Twitter/X discloses online how the company complies with the requirements of the German media law.
In the examination initiated in February 2023, BLM had investigated whether Twitter violates the principle of non-discrimination and whether the manipulation of the algorithm through a ‘reach booster’ for tweets by Musk constitutes a breach of the German Interstate Media Treaty.
According to a report by US publication Platformer, Musk had issued an instruction to ‘tweak’ the algorithm in such a way that his own tweets regularly achieved the highest reach. BLM is responsible for Twitter’s German offerings.
“In the case of a possible manipulation of the algorithm, the Interstate Media Treaty with its prohibition of discrimination, which is intended to prevent the deliberate prioritisation of certain journalistic-editorial content, takes effect. Twitter is of enormous importance, especially for political communication. Ensuring diversity of opinion and thus also a free democratic dialogue is a task that the media institutions take very seriously in view of the power of media intermediaries to influence opinion,” BLM President Dr Thorsten Schmiege had emphasised when initiating the investigation.
