Brussels has accused its internal market commissioner of going rogue by sending a letter to Elon Musk threatening punishment if content posted on social media site X was found to place EU citizens at risk of “serious harm”.
Thierry Breton, the French commissioner, had posted the warning letter on X, the platform owned by Musk, hours before the billionaire interviewed US presidential candidate Donald Trump, also on X.
On Tuesday the European Commission denied that Breton had approval from its president Ursula von der Leyen to send the letter.
“The timing and the wording of the letter were neither co-ordinated or agreed with the president nor with the [commissioners],” it said.
An EU official, who asked not to be named, said: “Thierry has his own mind and way of working and thinking.”
The commission has been investigating X, formerly Twitter, since last year over claims of non-compliance with its landmark Digital Services Act passed in 2022, which aims to bring into line the growing power of social media platforms.
On Tuesday the commission added: “The [investigation] on dissemination of illegal content and information manipulation is ongoing, we are looking into it, and of course everything that happens on the platform feeds into this assessment.”
“The response of X to the management of this type of content is taken into account in the course of the investigation.”
Breton’s letter was sent against a background of increased fears in Europe about the spread of disinformation on X. False information on social media has been accused of fuelling far-right sentiment within the EU and the spread of recent riots in the UK.
At the same time, European politicians have been anxious about a potential White House return by Trump, who imposed tariffs on European goods during his previous term in office, and has also said he would encourage Russia to “do whatever they want” to Nato members that do not spend enough on defence.
Officials close to Breton said that the letter had been planned for some time and that the interview, hailed by Musk as “unprecedented”, seemed an appropriate “trigger point” for publishing.
Breton is empowered to oversee enforcement of the Digital Services Act and can communicate independently with companies.
In his letter, Breton cited the upcoming interview and said he was “compelled” to remind Musk as the “individual entity ultimately controlling a platform with over 300mn users worldwide, of which one-third are in the EU” of his legal obligations under the Digital Services Act.
“This notably means ensuring, on the one hand, that freedom of expression and of information . . . are effectively protected and on the other hand, that all proportionate and effective mitigation measures are put in place regarding the amplification of harmful content,” he wrote.
“This is important against the background of recent examples of public unrest brought about by the amplification of content that promotes hatred, disorder, incitement to violence, or certain instances of disinformation.”
Musk responded to the letter from Breton with a meme from the 2008 film Tropic Thunder, that showed one character yelling: “Take a big step back and literally fuck your own face.”
A Trump campaign spokesperson responded by saying: “The European Union should mind their own business instead of trying to meddle in the US presidential election.”
Musk later posted that he would be “happy to host” Kamala Harris, Donald Trump’s rival for the US presidency, on X as well.
An EU official said that Breton had “taken note” of Musk’s reply but was still expecting a more formal response.
“We don’t have to comment or react whenever there is a tweet, whether it is a bonjour or a reference to a movie,” 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 far-right riots in the UK, and could trigger an “incident protocol” that would force online platforms to investigate how their platforms were being used to threaten public security.
In early findings from its investigation of X’s activities in July, Brussels said that X was failing its obligations on transparency of advertising and that its blue ticks — ostensibly intended to indicate verified users — “deceive users” because “anyone” could subscribe to X’s Premium service to acquire the status.
If X is found to be in contravention of the DSA it could face fines of up to 6 per cent of its worldwide turnover.
Additional reporting by Daria Mosolova
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