The news is rare enough to be worth noting: on Tuesday 13 August, the European Commission filed a complaint against one of its commissioners. The day after his letter to Elon Musk, European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton was disavowed by Brussels. “Thierry has his own mind, his own way of working and thinking,” an EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the American business daily Financial Times.
The sequence begins at the end of the day on Sunday, August 11, when Elon Musk announces on X (formerly Twitter) that he has planned an online conversation with Donald Trump. The boss of the social network invites X users to join him on Monday evening at 8 p.m. local time. “Entertainment guaranteed!” he promises. The next day, Donald Trump, who seems to be making his definitive return to the platform three years after being banned, sends the same message to his 89 million followers. followers.
“Big audiences” but “big responsibilities”
Unsurprisingly, the message does not escape Brussels, which is closely monitoring the activities of the social network bought by Elon Musk at the end of 2022. Last December, an investigation was even opened by the Commission, which suspected X of failing in its obligations in the fight against disinformation. Thus, a few hours before the start of the “X Space”, a missive that sounded like a warning was published from Thierry Breton’s X account. It is signed by the European Commissioner, addressed to “Mr. Musk”, and is accompanied by a solemn: “with great audiences come great responsibilities”.
And for good reason, as recalled in the letter, X has no less than 300 million users worldwide, a third of whom are located within the European Union. An audience that puts the social network under the control of the status of “Very Large Online Platform” and thus forces it to follow stricter rules than platforms with fewer than 45 million users in the EU. A principle contained in the Digital Service Act, better known by the acronym DSA.
European legislation adopted in 2022, which aims to regulate the activities of online platforms. And that Thierry Breton did not fail to remind the American billionaire. “Freedom of expression and information, including freedom of the media and pluralism (must be) effectively protected,” he emphasizes. As well as the obligation of moderation which must involve the establishment of a system for reporting problematic content in order to act “promptly” to remove any illicit content or make access to it impossible.
A “Musk” response
Elon Musk’s response on his Agora X three hours later: a meme (visual or textual element, often humorous, which spreads quickly on the Internet) taken from the film Tthunder in the tropics from 2008, in which one of the protagonists shouts: “Take a big step back and literally go fuck yourself.” X-rated director Linda Yaccarino also responded to the European commissioner on the social network, saying it was an “unprecedented attempt to extend a law intended to apply in Europe to political activities in the United States.”
Unsurprisingly, the warning was not better received on the side of the Grand Old Party. “The European Union should mind its own business instead of trying to interfere in the US presidential election,” quipped a spokesman for Donald Trump’s campaign. And he added in the middle of the race for the White House: “It is only in the America of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris that an undemocratic foreign organization can afford to tell this country what to do.”
During the X Space On Monday night, Elon Musk tried to get his guest to react to the Brussels warning. “I received a letter from the European Commission warning me not to spread disinformation. This is a way to impose censorship on Americans through legislation in other countries. What do you think?” While avoiding getting to the heart of the matter, Donald Trump criticized the customs barriers put in place by the European Union on the purchase of American cars and agricultural products.
A publication triggered by the Trump-Musk exchange
But the next day, Tuesday August 13, the Financial Times reveals that the letter published by Thierry Breton to the head of Tesla and Space X was a personal initiative, which in no way engages the responsibility of the European Commission. “The timing and wording of the letter were neither coordinated nor approved by the President [Ursula von der Leyen, NDLR] nor by the [commissaires]”, said Brussels, thus disavowing the initiative of the Commissioner for the Internal Market.
At the same time, Thierry Breton’s close entourage reportedly told the American daily that the letter had been planned for some time and that the interview was seen as an opportune event to publish it. And to recall that, as Commissioner Delegate for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton is empowered to ensure the proper application of the DSA, and to do so, has full latitude to communicate independently with the various economic players. Even when this player happens to be the very influential Elon Musk.