X, the social media giant, has successfully obtained a German court order to disqualify a judge overseeing a legal dispute between the company and two activist groups concerning the sharing of election data, as per a court document viewed by Reuters on Friday.
Earlier this month, a regional court in Berlin rejected a motion by the activist groups, requesting X (formerly Twitter), to provide real-time access to data related to the German election on February 23 until two days after the election.
The activist groups argued that they required this data to monitor and combat misinformation and disinformation leading up to the election.
X appealed the decision and also filed a motion to have a judge removed from the case, claiming that the judge had shown favoritism by engaging positively with social media content from the plaintiffs, Democracy Reporting International and the Society for Civil Rights.
Both the court and the activist groups confirmed the ruling when approached by Reuters. Motions against two other judges were dismissed. The U.S. law firm White & Case, representing X, declined to provide a comment.
This legal conflict unfolds against a backdrop of tension between Germany's political establishment and Musk, who criticized incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz and endorsed the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
The two activist groups contended that X had a legal obligation to furnish easily accessible, aggregated information, such as post reach, shares, and likes - details typically buried among thousands of posts and practically unattainable.
Earlier this week, X announced its intention to litigate against the German government in state and federal courts shortly before the election, arguing that Germany tops the list within the European Union for requesting user data, which the company believes is unauthorized.
The German digital affairs ministry acknowledged X's intentions but stated that no lawsuits had been filed thus far.
A hearing on the preliminary injunction is scheduled for February 27 at 0930 GMT with the remaining two judges, with a ruling expected later the same day, as indicated in another court document seen by Reuters.
While this hearing date means that the activist researchers will not have real-time access to the data during their critical period, the outcome could establish a precedent for comparable cases in the future.
In a separate development, tech magnate Musk and officials at the new cost-cutting U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are spearheading an overhaul of the federal bureaucracy at the request of President Donald Trump.