Seriously Risky Business Newsletter
March 13, 2025
Outside America, Musk's X is a Foreign Influence Threat
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Policy & Intelligence
We have consistently argued for TikTok to be banned in the US as it could be a powerful tool for the Chinese government to interfere with American political discourse. For US allies, a similar argument now applies to X.
Commentators in Canada and the UK have already floated the idea of banning X. Meanwhile, in France, prosecutors have announced they've opened an investigation into X over alleged algorithmic bias. The investigation was launched after the prosecutor's office received complaints about X's interference in French democratic debate.
X isn't TikTok, but in many ways it's actually worse. X actively promotes CEO Elon Musk's hard-right, fascist ideology, while interference on TikTok is mostly a theoretical risk. TikTok might be up to something and might improperly use its influence one day. Musk's interference on X, on the other hand, is as subtle as a brick to the head.