The European Union’s digital enforcer wrote an open letter to tech mogul Elon Musk on Monday ahead of a planned interview with former United States President Donald Trump to remind him of the EU’s rules on promoting hate speech.
Trump announced last week that he is sitting down with Musk for a “major interview,” which will be livestreamed on X.
Europe’s Digital Commissioner Thierry Breton reminded the world’s richest man of his legal obligation to stop the “amplification of harmful content.”
The EU in July charged X, which Musk bought in 2022, for failing to respect its social media laws. The platform faces multimillion euro fines.
“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 said in a statement posted on X.
Breton added that “any negative effect of illegal content” could lead the EU to take further action against X, using “our full toolbox, including by adopting interim measures, should it be warranted to protect EU citizens from harm.”
Trump was suspended from X, then known as Twitter, in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol “due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” the company said. Following Musk’s takeover of X, he reinstated Trump’s account.
Trump’s reinstated account remained largely inactive until Monday, when it unexpectedly began posting campaign adverts, denigrating Vice President Kamala Harris and reposting promotional material for the interview with Musk.
It’s in the context of that interview that Breton made his intervention, posting a link to the letter on X itself, with the caption: “With great audience comes greater responsibility #DSA.”
“As there is a risk of amplification of potentially harmful content in [the European Union] in connection with events with major audience around the world, I sent this letter to @elonmusk.”
Musk has also drawn the ire of lawmakers in the United Kingdom in the past week for his platform’s role in the race riots that have rocked the country, his sharing of false information that the U.K. was going to open detainment camps for rioters, and his war of words with Muslim ex-First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf in which Musk said of Yousaf: “Scotland gave him everything and yet he loathes white people.”
Musk’s recent descent into posting innuendo, half-truths and outright lies on the platform has caused concern among lawmakers around the world.
