Elon Musk-owned X has secured a German court motion to remove a judge overseeing its legal dispute with two activist groups seeking real-time election data access.
A court document on Friday confirmed the ruling, which is part of an ongoing legal battle between X and the groups Democracy Reporting International and the Society for Civil Rights.
Earlier this month, a Berlin regional court had granted a motion by the activist groups to compel X to provide real-time data access for the February 23 German election and two days beyond the vote. The groups argued they needed the data to monitor misinformation and disinformation during the election period.
X filed an appeal and a motion to remove a judge in the case, arguing the judge had “positively engaged” with social media content from the plaintiffs.
The case is unfolding amid rising tensions between Musk and Germany’s political leadership. Musk has openly criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz and voiced support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
The activist groups claim that X has a legal duty to provide accessible, collated election data, such as post reach, shares, and likes—information technically available by manually clicking through posts but practically difficult to collect.
X has also announced plans to sue the German government in state and federal courts over what it calls excessive user data requests. “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 company’s global government affairs division said in a statement.
Germany’s digital affairs ministry acknowledged X’s public statements but said no lawsuit had been filed to date.
A hearing on the preliminary injunction is scheduled for February 27 at 0930 GMT, with the two remaining judges presiding over the case. A decision is expected later that day, though the timing means the activist groups will not obtain real-time election data before the vote.
The ruling could, however, set a precedent for future legal disputes over election data access.
Separately, Musk and officials at the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are reportedly working on a plan to streamline the federal bureaucracy under President Donald Trump’s administration.
