Elon Musk-owned X has successfully obtained a German court motion to remove a judge from overseeing its legal dispute with two activist groups regarding the sharing of election data, according to a court document reviewed by Reuters on Friday.
Earlier this month, a regional court in Berlin had ruled in favor of the civil activist groups, requiring X – formerly known as Twitter – to grant real-time access to data related to the February 23 German election until two days after the polls closed.
The activist groups argued that access to this data was necessary for them to monitor misinformation and disinformation ahead of the election.
In response, X filed an appeal along with a motion to disqualify a judge from the case, claiming the judge “had positively engaged” with social media content from the plaintiffs—Democracy Reporting International and the Society for Civil Rights.
Both groups and the court confirmed the decision when contacted by Reuters, though motions to remove two other judges were rejected. US law firm White & Case, which is representing X, declined to comment.
This legal dispute is unfolding amid tensions between Germany’s political leadership and Musk, who has criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz as a “fool” and voiced support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
The activist groups maintained that X was legally obligated to provide easily accessible, compiled information on metrics such as the reach of posts, shares, and likes. While this data is theoretically obtainable by manually reviewing thousands of posts, the groups argued that doing so would be practically impossible.
‘Freedom of expression’
Earlier this week, X announced that it plans to sue the German government in both state and federal courts just before the election, arguing that Germany submits the highest number of requests for user data within the European Union.
“X believes that these legal demands for user data are unlawful and has taken cases in both German federal and state courts challenging the lawfulness of the government’s overreach into our users’ privacy and freedom of expression,” the platform’s global government affairs division stated on X.
When contacted by Reuters, Germany’s Constitutional Court, the Federal Administrative Court, and the Berlin regional court all confirmed that, as of now, no cases had been filed by X. The German government did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
According to another court document reviewed by Reuters, a hearing on the preliminary injunction is scheduled for February 27 at 0930 GMT, with the two remaining judges presiding over the case. A ruling is expected later that same day. Due to the timing of the hearing, the activist researchers will not have real-time access to the data during their critical monitoring period. However, the court’s decision could establish a precedent for similar cases in the future.
Separately, tech billionaire Elon Musk and his team at the newly established cost-cutting US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are working on a major effort to downsize the federal bureaucracy, following directives from President Donald Trump.
