Twitter/X owner Elon Musk left quite a colourful reply for European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Thierry Breton.
The letter of warning from the EU Commission came in the lead up to Musk’s plans to host a livestream interview with the former US president on X.
As the row over what Breton has deemed the potential dissemination of “harmful content” on Musk’s ‘free speech platform’ deepens, Musk replied to the latest letter of criticism from the EU Commission by replying with a meme from Tropic Thunder.
This one:
Musk added the caption, “To be honest, I really wanted to respond with this Tropic Thunder meme, but I would NEVER do something so rude & irresponsible!”
Breton had published the letter sent to Musk reminding the billionaire that he has “the legal obligation to ensure X’s compliance with EU law and in particular the DSA in the EU.”
The letter says it was sent “in the context” of recent events in the UK and as Musk’s plans to livestream the conversation between himself and Donald Trump.
Breton goes on to say that “any negative effect of illegal content on X in the EU, which could be attributed to the ineffectiveness of the way in which X applies the relevant provisions of the DSA [Digital Services Act], may be relevant in the context of the ongoing proceedings and of the overall assessment of X’s compliance with EU law.”
Breton says he will “be extremely vigilant to any evidence that points to breaches of the DSA and will not hesitate to make full use of our toolbox, including by adopting interim measures, should it be warranted to protect EU citizens from serious harm” in the context of the sharing of material on the platform which the EU deems to incite “violence, hate and racism in the EU, such as in the context of the recent riots in the United Kingdom.”
As Gript recently reported, Musk has alleged that the EU offered him an “illegal secret deal” to censor content on X.
Ben Scallan reported the comments which came after Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Margrethe Vesterger said that in the view of the commission, X “doesn’t comply with the DSA in key transparency areas.”
She added that the platform, “misleads users, fails to provide adequate ad repository and blocks access to data for researchers,”
Musk’ replied saying that,, “The European Commission offered 𝕏 an illegal secret deal: if we quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us.
“The other platforms accepted that deal.” he said, adding, “X did not.”