{"id":1240,"date":"2026-05-27T14:39:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T14:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/2026\/05\/27\/germany-wants-x-to-push-state-approved-content-report\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T14:39:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T14:39:41","slug":"germany-wants-x-to-push-state-approved-content-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/?p=1240","title":{"rendered":"Germany wants X to push state-approved content \u2013 report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Social media firms would be forced to boost \u201creliable\u201d news outlets and punish \u201cdisinformation\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

German regulators plan to force social media platforms such as X to boost government-approved \u201creliable\u201d<\/em> media outlets in their algorithms, according to leaked documents. The US government has vowed to respond over what it sees as pressure on American tech firms.<\/p>\n

In a draft \u2018Digital Media State Treaty\u2019 seen by Apollo News, the heads of Germany\u2019s 14 state media regulators have outlined plans to boost the visibility of \u201cpublic value media\u201d<\/em> on social media platforms such as X and TikTok.<\/p>\n

In order to combat \u201cdisinformative, polarizing, or merely attention-grabbing content,\u201d<\/em> the regulation would force platforms to alter their algorithms to prioritize content from mainstream news sources, such as Germany\u2019s ARD and ZDF broadcasters. Content will be ranked by its \u201ctimeliness, relevance to the public\u2019s interest in information, and journalistic context,\u201d<\/em> and will appear accordingly in users\u2019 feeds, the draft states.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"RT
Musk vs France: How X became a target for Paris<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The concepts of \u201cdisinformation\u201d<\/em> and \u201cpublic value\u201d<\/em> will be decided by media regulators appointed by the parliaments of their respective states. As such, the enforcement of the treaty will be inherently politicized.<\/p>\n

If adopted, the regulation will likely apply to all major social media platforms. However, Elon Musk\u2019s X has been singled out by Thorsten Schmiege, who chairs the Conference of Directors of the State Media Authorities. Speaking to the Frankfurter Rundschau earlier this month, Schmiege criticized Musk for stripping away much of the X\u2019s speech restrictions when he purchased the platform in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cContent moderation was very responsible back then,\u201d<\/em> he said, adding that he aims to make it \u201ceconomically necessary\u201d<\/em> for X to reintroduce its prior censorship policies.<\/p>\n

X is an American platform, and any algorithmic changes would influence what kind of content Americans are exposed to. \u201cA key force at play here is foreign governments\u2019 desire to control who commands credibility, even on American platforms,\u201d<\/em> US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers wrote on X on Wednesday. Asked whether the State Department would push back against the draft treaty, Rogers responded \u201cstay tuned.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Europe claims that its lawsuit against X over bluechecks is about consumer deception: that if the \u2611\ufe0f merely means \u201cuser paid,\u201d the platform should not suggest some other imprimatur. But a key force at play, here, is foreign governments\u2019 desire to control who commands\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/d86sGOUV2j<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Under Secretary of State Sarah B. Rogers (@UnderSecPD) May 27, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The EU fined X \u20ac120 million ($139 million) in December for violating its Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping censorship bill adopted in 2024. Brussels argues that X\u2019s blue checkmark system for paid subscribers constitutes \u201cdeceptive\u201d<\/em> advertising, claiming that accounts with the checkmarks have not been \u201cmeaningfully verified.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Musk and some senior members of President Donald Trump\u2019s administration have accused the EU of unfairly singling out X for punishment over its refusal to censor political speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe European Commission\u2019s $140 million fine isn\u2019t just an attack on X, it\u2019s an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments,\u201d<\/em> US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the time. Rubio sanctioned former European Commissioner Thierry Breton and four pro-censorship activists in response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Social media firms would be forced to boost \u201creliable\u201d news outlets and punish \u201cdisinformation\u201d German…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}