Elon Musk received US presidential candidate Donald Trump on Monday in a conversation broadcast live through his X platform.
The head of the EU Internal Market, Thierry Bretonhas urged the owner of the social network Elon Muskto meet legal obligations under the EU digital regulation hours before the billionaire will interview live on your platform to the American Republican candidate, Donald Trump. For this fact, Musk accused Brussels by one attempted censorship.
In the letter, published in X, Breton states that Musk has a “legal obligation” to ensure that “all proportionate and effective mitigation measures are applied in relation to the amplification of harmful content in relation to relevant events, including live broadcast”.
Do not implement these measures could “increase the risk profile of X and generate harmful effects in civic discourse and public safety,” Breton added.
The conversation between Musk and Trump was broadcast live from Trump’s channel on Monday. The Republican candidate, who aspires to return to the White House in the US presidential elections in November, returned to X first thing on Monday.
His account was restored following Musk’s acquisition of the platform in 2022, a year after the former US president was excluded for inciting the 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Musk, in the EU’s crosshairs
Musk has been in the EU’s crosshairs since his acquisition of X, which was previously called Twitter. The Digital Services Act (DSA) of the 27 Member States classifies X and 19 other platforms as “very large” online platforms or search engines, which forces them to comply with digital regulations strictest in the EU.
This has caused tensions between the American billionaire and the head of the EU Internal Market, Breton, who has been appointed by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, for a second term in Brussels.
Musk announced that he would sue to the European Commission in July after the community Executive accused him of breach the DSA due to lack of transparency with your platform verification program. “Go ahead,” was Bretón’s response in July. “See you in court, or not,” he added.
The European Commission is “on alert”
But Monday’s message suggests greater concern in Brussels over the role of X in the dissemination of content that has the potential to incite violence or public disorder. Breton refers specifically to X’s role in the recent riots in the UKwhich Musk himself has been accused of stoking.
“I note that the obligations of the DSA apply without exceptions or discrimination to the moderation of the entire community of X users and content (including yourself as a user with over 190 million followers) that can be accessed by EU users,” Breton said.
Although the United Kingdom has been outside the EU’s regulatory orbit since its formal departure from the bloc in 2020, the community Executive has raised the alarm about the risk that the content published on the social network
“My services and I will be extremely attentive to any indication that points to violations of the DSA and we will not hesitate to make full use of our toolboxincluding by adopting provisional measures, if justified to protect EU citizens from serious harm,” added the commissioner.
It is calculated that has 300 million users around the world, of which around a third are in the EU.
