Joe McConnell
Brussels has accused its internal market commissioner of acting unfairly by sending a letter to Elon Musk threatening to punish him if content posted on social media site X was deemed to pose a risk of “serious harm” to EU citizens.
Thierry Breton, the French commissioner, had published the warning letter on X, the platform owned by Musk, just hours before the billionaire interviewed US presidential candidate Donald Trump, also on X.
The European Commission denied on Tuesday that Breton had received authorization from its president Ursula von der Leyen to send the letter.
“The timing and wording of the letter were neither coordinated nor agreed upon with the President nor with the [commissioners]”, he said.
An EU official, who asked not to be named, said: “Thierry has his own mind, his own way of working and thinking.”
The commission has been investigating X, formerly Twitter, since last year over allegations of failure to comply with its landmark Digital Services Act, passed in 2022, which aims to rein in the growing power of social media platforms.
The commission added on Tuesday: “The [investigation] on the dissemination of illegal content and the manipulation of information is ongoing, we are examining it and, of course, everything that happens on the platform flows into this assessment.”
“X’s response to the handling of this type of content is taken into account during the investigation.”
Breton’s letter comes amid growing concerns in Europe about the spread of disinformation about X. False information on social media has been blamed for fuelling far-right sentiment within the EU and contributing to the recent riots in the UK.
At the same time, European politicians are worried about a possible return to the White House of Trump, who imposed tariffs on European goods during his previous term and also said he would encourage Russia to “do whatever it wants” to NATO members that do not spend enough on defense.
Officials close to Breton said the letter had been planned for some time and that the interview, hailed by Musk as “unprecedented,” seemed an appropriate “trigger point” for publication.
In it, Breton cited the upcoming interview and said he was “forced” to remind Musk, as “an individual entity that ultimately controls a platform with over 300 million users worldwide, a third of which are in the EU,” of his legal obligations under the Digital Services Act.
“This means in particular ensuring, on the one hand, that freedom of expression and information… are effectively protected and, on the other hand, that all proportionate and effective mitigation measures are put in place with regard to the amplification of harmful content,” he wrote.
“This is important in light of recent examples of public unrest caused by the amplification of content promoting hatred, disorder, incitement to violence or some cases of disinformation.”
Musk responded to Breton’s letter with a meme from the 2008 film Tropic Thunder, in which a character yells, “Take a big step back and literally fuck your face off.”
A Trump campaign spokesperson responded by saying, “The European Union should be minding its own business instead of trying to meddle in the US presidential election.”
Musk later wrote that he would also be “happy to host” Kamala Harris, Donald Trump’s rival for the US presidency, on X.
An EU official said Breton had “taken note” of Musk’s response but still expected a more formal response.
“We don’t have to comment or react every time there’s a tweet, whether it’s a bonjour or a movie reference,” the official said.
The Commission said last week that it was monitoring social media platforms for any spread of disinformation within the EU related to the far-right riots in the UK and that it could activate an “incident protocol” that would force online platforms to investigate how their platforms were being used to threaten public safety.
In its initial findings from its investigation into X’s activities in July, Brussels said X was failing to meet its advertising transparency obligations and that its blue ticks, ostensibly meant to indicate verified users, “mislead users” because “anyone” could subscribe to X’s Premium service to acquire the status.
If X is found to be in violation of the DSA, it could face fines of up to 6 percent of its worldwide turnover.
More information by Daria Mosolova
