Before Elon Musk’s live-streamed conversation with former US president Donald Trump on X, the European Union sent him a strong warning. The EU received a very angry response.
Technical difficulties ruined Trump and Musk’s Monday night talk, which resulted in a delay of more than 40 minutes and was generally regarded as rambling. It included several of the Republican presidential candidate’s main talking points, such as his anti-immigration stance and his near-death experience. He informed Musk, among other things, that a lot of “tough guys” were trying to cross the border into the United States from Mexico.
Trump referred to Democratic contender Kamala Harris as “beautiful” and compared her to his wife Melania while attacking her on the Time magazine cover.“She looks like the most beautiful actress ever to live. It was a drawing, and actually, she looked very much like a great First Lady, Melania.”
Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as being at the “top of their game.”
He also told Musk, who could be heard laughing through many sections of the interview, that if he loses the election, “you’re not going to have a country anymore.” The post sharing the interview on Trump’s account had more than 130 million views as of 5:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
In an open letter published on Monday, Thierry Breton, the Frenchman serving as the EU’s internal market commissioner, requested that the tech tycoon and founder of X remove his interview with Trump in order to prevent “the amplification of damaging information.” According to Breton, as the person in charge of the platform that is used by more than 300 million people globally, Musk, who purchased the company in 2022, is legally required to abide by the Digital Services Act (DSA) and combat the propagation of false information.
“With great audience comes greater responsibility #DSA,” Breton wrote on X in posting the letter. “As there is a risk of amplification of potentially harmful content in connection with events with major audience around the world, I sent this letter to @elonmusk.” Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X (formerly Twitter), was copied.
With great audience comes greater responsibility #DSA
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) August 12, 2024
As there is a risk of amplification of potentially harmful content in 🇪🇺 in connection with events with major audience around the world, I sent this letter to @elonmusk
📧⤵️ pic.twitter.com/P1IgxdPLzn
“As the relevant content is accessible to EU users and being amplified also in our jurisdiction, we cannot exclude potential spillovers in the EU,” Breton continued in his letter. Any “negative effect of illegal content” could lead the EU to take further action against X and Musk, using “our full toolbox, including by adopting interim measures, should it be warranted to protect EU citizens from harm.”
Musk replied to Breton’s letter with a meme that said: “Take a big step back and literally, fuck your own face!” He even asked Trump in the interview: “There’s a lot of attempts to do censorship and to force censorship, even on Americans from other countries. What do you think about that?” But Trump instead launched into a conversation about the U.S. trade deficit with the EU, arguing that the European Union was taking “great advantage” of the U.S.
The EU accused X in July of breaking its social media regulations, which could have resulted in multimillion-euro fines for the site. It was only recently that Musk came under heavy fire from the British authorities for allegedly stoking the fires during far-right riots. It all started when X was falsely accused of being a Muslim, despite the fact that he was not, and three young girls in Southport were stabbed. In reaction to a video showing a riot in Liverpool, Musk declared, among other things, “civil war is imminent.” This comment sparked threats that X would be banned and that Musk would face legal action for his involvement in the violence.
After his account was suspended following the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, “because to the potential of additional instigation of violence,” the firm stated at the time. However, Trump has since returned to the app. However, Musk restored Trump’s account after assuming control.
