Musk Says X’s New Algorithm Will Be Open Source in 6 Days

The announcement follows probes by multiple regulatory authorities in Europe.

(Left) SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk at the Vivatech technology startups and innovation fair at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris on June 16, 2023. (Right) The X logo, pictured on a screen in Paris on July 24, 2023. Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images

Elon Musk said on Jan. 10 that his X social media platform would open its new algorithm to the public within a week.

“We will make the new X algorithm, including all code used to determine what organic and advertising posts are recommended to users, open source in 7 days,” Musk wrote in a post on X on Jan. 10. “This will be repeated every 4 weeks, with comprehensive developer notes, to help you understand what changed.”

Authorities in the UK and the European Union notified Musk’s X and xAI on Jan. 5 that its regulatory bodies were aware of reports alleging that X’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok had been used to generate sexually explicit images, including images that appeared to depict minors.

European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said that the EU is “very well aware of the fact that [Grok] is now offering a ‘spicy mode’ showing explicit sexual content with some output generated with childlike images.”

“This is not spicy. This is illegal. This is appalling. This is disgusting,” Regnier told reporters on Jan. 5

Musk had written in a post two days prior that “anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.”

On Jan. 8, Regnier said a retention order the EU sent to X last year would be extended to the end of 2026. The order regarded the platform’s algorithms and the potential dissemination of illegal content.

The EU also fined X 120 million euros, or $140 million, last month, accusing the company of violating the bloc’s Digital Services Act transparency obligations. The fine was levied in relation to X’s “blue checkmark” subscription model, allegations of limited transparency regarding X’s ad repository, and the platform not giving researchers access to its public data.

French prosecutors in July 2025 launched a probe into X, citing alleged algorithm abuse and fraudulent data extraction by either the platform or its executives. The investigation followed a previous preliminary probe from January 2025 after the French government received complaints from a lawmaker and a senior French official about suspected foreign influence by X.

After French public institutions and researchers provided prosecutors with their findings from the preliminary probe, prosecutors asked police to investigate the company as “both a legal entity and through individual persons.”

Prosecutors called the alleged crimes “organised interference with the functioning of an automated data processing system” and “organised fraudulent extraction of data from an automated data processing system.”

X dismissed the probe as a “politically-motivated criminal investigation” in a post from its Global Government Affairs account on July 21, 2025.

“French authorities have requested access to X’s recommendation algorithm and real-time data about all user posts on the platform in order for several ‘experts’ to analyze the data and purportedly ’uncover the truth' about the operation of the X platform,” the company wrote at the time.

“The involvement of these individuals raises serious concerns about the impartiality, fairness, and political motivations of the investigation, to put it charitably. ... French authorities have classified X as an ‘organized gang’ for the purpose of the investigation.

“This characterization, which is usually reserved for drug cartels or mafia groups, enables the French police to deploy extensive investigative powers under French law, including wiretapping the personal devices of X employees.”

X stated that it “remains in the dark as to the specific allegations made against the platform.”

“However, based on what we know so far, X believes that this investigation is distorting French law in order to serve a political agenda and, ultimately, restrict free speech,” the social media platform stated.

Victoria Friedman and Reuters contributed to this report.