Elon Musk v European Commission: They secretly suggested we censor Twitter to avoid fines

2024-07-12 20:05:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Elon Musk

The European Commission has offered platform X (formerly Twitter), owned by Elon Musk, to censor its content in exchange for not being fined, writes Elon Musk in a post of his.

X's owner was responding to a tweet by (outgoing) Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who noted that X had failed to comply with the DSA's digital platforms legislation in terms of mandated transparency from the law.

In particular, the Commission considers that Musk's company violates its transparency obligations regarding advertising and access to platform data for researchers.

Elon Musk v European Commission: They secretly suggested we censor Twitter to

Blocking X, the commissioner wrote, "misleads users, does not provide an adequate repository for ads, and blocks access to data for researchers."

"It is the first time that we make preliminary findings about DSA", adds the commissioner.

Musk's response, a few hours after the commissioner's post, was a complaint against European institutions as well as other platforms, which he did not name.

Elon Musk v European Commission: They secretly suggested we censor Twitter to

"The commission offered X a secret and illegal deal: if we quietly censored without telling anyone, they wouldn't fine us. The other platforms accepted the deal, but not X," he writes.

Moments later, Musk came back with another comment, this time in a tweet from Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton.

Elon Musk v European Commission: They secretly suggested we censor Twitter to

The commissioner writes that “blue ticks used to be reliable sources of information. Now with X our preliminary position is that they are misleading users and violating the DSA.

"X has the right to defend himself, but if our position is confirmed, we will impose fines and demand significant changes."

Elon Musk v European Commission: They secretly suggested we censor Twitter to

Musk threw in the towel, writing that "we expect to have a fully public court battle so that Europeans can know the truth."

The DSA Act that came into effect last year forces major internet content platforms (Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube) to restrict illegal and harmful content, such as misinformation or content harmful to children. Fines can be up to 5% of global revenue,

hundreds of millions of dollars./protothema./CNA