By Supantha Mukherjee, Philip Blenkinsop

STOCKHOLM, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's expected

hosting of Alice Weidel, leader of the far-right Alternative for

Germany (AfD) party, for a discussion on his X platform on

Thursday was being watched by the European Commission to check

for any spreading of misinformation before next month's German

election.

The European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA) is intended

to address illegal content such as hate speech and intentional

manipulation to influence elections.

X has been under investigation under the DSA since 2023 over

suspected dissemination of illegal content and the effectiveness

of its measures to combat information manipulation.

HOW IS MUSK INVOLVED IN EUROPEAN POLITICS?

Since publicly supporting Donald Trump to become U.S.

president last year, Musk has endorsed Britain's right-wing

Reform party as well as the AfD on X.

"The traditional political parties in Germany have utterly

failed the people. AfD is the only hope for Germany," he posted

on X last month.

Musk's endorsement of the AfD, an anti-immigration,

anti-Islamic party designated as right-wing-extremist by German

security services, has caused consternation in Berlin, where all

other parties rule out working with a party they regard as

dangerous and undemocratic.

After a Saudi doctor killed five people in a Christmas market

last month in the German city of Magdeburg, Musk called German

Chancellor Olaf Scholz an "incompetent fool" on X and urged him

to resign.

WHAT IS THE EU'S DIGITAL SERVICES ACT?

The DSA regulates big online platforms such as X and Meta

with more than 45 million users per month in the European Union,

as well as the app stores of companies such as Apple ( AAPL )

and Alphabet. Its main goal is to prevent illegal and

harmful online activities and the spread of misinformation.

Musk's X was the first company to be investigated under DSA for

illegal content, in December 2023.

A company can be fined up to 6% of its global annual

turnover for breaching the DSA, and up to 5% of daily worldwide

turnover for each day of delay in complying with remedies.

If the infringement persists and causes serious harm to

users, the Commission can request suspension of the service.

The Commission has also opened proceedings against Meta and

China's AliExpress, Temu and TikTok. All the cases including

that against X are still open except for one against TikTok,

closed after the video sharing platform addressed EU concerns.

WHAT WILL REGULATORS DO ON THURSDAY?

About 150 EU staff are responsible for enforcing the DSA,

both at the Commission's DG CONNECT department in Brussels and

the European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency in Spain.

Former EU industry commissioner Thierry Breton reminded

Weidel on X about DSA rules intended to protect democracy around

elections.

Senior EU officials acknowledge the challenge presented by

Musk but insist the DSA is up to the job.

"Mr Musk is free to express his opinions in the EU online

and offline, within legal boundaries," said Michael McGrath,

European commissioner for democracy, justice, the rule of law

and consumer protection.

HOW HAS MUSK CLASHED WITH THE EU?

The EU and Musk have clashed several times since he took

over his social media platform, then called Twitter.

Before Musk interviewed Trump last August, Breton urged him to

comply with EU law as the livestream would be accessible in the

EU. X CEO Linda Yaccarino called the letter an "unprecedented

attempt to stretch a law intended to apply in Europe to

political activities in the US".

The EU has accused X of deceiving users with its blue checkmark,

which previously indicated that an account had been verified as

belonging to a public figure but was changed to designate a paid

subscriber.

Musk threatened litigation, and accused the Commission, without

providing evidence, of offering X an illegal secret deal to

censor speech. Breton denied this.

The commission has also accused X of failing to provide easy

access to searchable and reliable information about

advertisements, and blocking researchers from accessing its

public data.