A former EU tech leader has accused Elon Musk of “lying like hell” by claiming the bloc was trying to stop an interview the X owner had arranged with the co-leader of Germany’s far-right party Alternative für Deutschland.
Thierry Breton, who resigned as European Commissioner in September after overseeing the passage of ambitious legislation designed to regulate Big Tech, said Musk had been disingenuous in claiming that the EU was trying to censor his discussion with Alice Weidel, who will take place on Thursday. evening.
The American billionaire stated on his social media platform on Wednesday: “First, the EU tried to prevent me from having an online conversation with President @realDonaldTrump. Now they want to prevent people from listening to a conversation with Alice Weidel, who could be the next chancellor of Germany. “These guys really hate democracy.”
His tweet was a reference to a letter Breton wrote to Musk before a similar conversation with Donald Trump in August. In the letter, Breton reminded Musk of his obligation under the Digital Services Act (DSA) not to facilitate the “amplification of harmful content.”
After Musk announced he would interview Weidel, whose anti-immigration party garners around 19% of the vote in the run-up to next month’s German election, Breton sent a similar warning to Weidel via a social media post, a step that appears to have prompted Musk’s accusations on Wednesday.
In an interview with The Guardian, Breton said: “Now that I have sent a letter to Mrs Weidel, he (Musk) says that the EU wants to stop people from having a conversation. “We are misrepresenting information (here).”
When asked if Musk was lying, Breton said: “He lies like hell. “No one tried to stop him from having a conversation with Trump, no one tried to stop him from having a conversation in Germany.”
The Frenchman said he had always had good and constructive face-to-face relations with Musk, but that the Tesla boss had mocked and insulted him online. Recently, Musk called him “annoying” and, in August, quoted a joke from the American satirical film Tropic Thunder, inviting the then commissioner to “take a big step back and literally fuck your face.”
X has been contacted for comment.
The dispute is the latest in a series launched by Musk in recent weeks, including hostile attacks on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that have sparked fury across Europe.
Breton urged leaders to speak out about the spread of misinformation and hate. “We need leadership, especially these days. “Europe only works if we have strong leadership,” he stated.
X is being investigated by the European Commission within the framework of the DSA, partly formed by Breton. The company has said it is “cooperating with the regulatory process” and remains “focused on creating a safe and inclusive environment for all users of our platform, while protecting freedom of expression.”
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Insiders said a decision was expected in fall 2023, but the commission needed to give X time to present his legal defense. Some suggested that the findings would be published shortly.
Breton declined to comment on the investigation, but said he wanted to emphasize that the DSA had nothing to do with silencing critics or “stopping free speech,” which he said was “cherished” by all democracies of Europe.
“In Europe, freedom of expression is paramount, it is extremely important in all member states for democracy in general, for the courts of justice, it is something untouchable,” he said.
But, he added, it operated within a framework of laws that also banned anti-Semitic speech, racist hate speech and terrorism apologists, which tech companies were required to respect.
“These are prohibited by law in the physical space, on the street, in the media and now also in the digital space,” he said, adding that social media companies, unlike the old media, had unprecedented power to “massively accelerate and amplify.” ” content to audiences, and that with this power came responsibility.