Much has been said today about the interview that took place on Monday between Elon Musk and Donald Trump on X. Delayed by technical reasons, which Musk blamed on DDOS attacks, the two-hour conversation has been labelled, among other things, “surprisingly dull,” “rambling,” and “friendly.”
The exercise in mutual admiration of the two “planet-sized egos” had Trump blaming Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on President Biden. He also stated that “millions of people” were flooding US borders in a month, and claimed that climate change and sea levels rising wasn’t so bad because you would “have more oceanfront property, right?”
Ahead of the interview, the European Commission sent a letter to Elon Musk, warning the Tesla founder against promoting “harmful content” in violation of the bloc’s online content regulations during the conversation. The letter was signed by Thierry Breton, and shared publicly on X.
It asked Musk to make sure that “all proportionate and effective mitigation measures are put in place regarding the amplification of harmful content in connection with relevant events, including live streaming.”
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Failure to put such measures in place could “increase the risk profile of X and generate detrimental effects on civic discourse and public security,” Breton added. This was a response to Musk previously announcing that the interview would be “unscripted with no limits on subject matter.”
It also came off the back of X’s failure to stem misinformation and instigation of violence during the recent anti-immigration riots in the UK.
However, it seems Breton may have found himself in a spot of trouble as the letter had not been approved by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “The timing and the wording of the letter were neither co-ordinated or agreed with the president nor with the [commissioners],” the Commission said in a statement to the Financial Times.
Tweets of displeasure
In response to the letter, X user MJTruthUltra called it “election interference,” a post that received responses in the form of a gif with pro wrestlers repeatedly pointing to their crotches, and, from WV Patriot, (clearly in full grasp of historical events) “You’re not the boss of us anymore, lmao. We won our freedom and intend to keep it.” And those are the more palatable ones.
Elon himself, befitting the wealthiest and one of the most influential men on the planet, posted a meme from Tropic Thunder in response. We will not re-share it here, you can have a look yourself, should you feel so inclined. Oh X, you pinnacle of humanity.
Linda Yaccarino, X’s CEO, said the letter was patronising to EU citizens, “suggesting they are incapable of listening to a conversation and drawing their own conclusions.” Meanwhile, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung called the EU an “un-Democratic” organisation and “an enemy of free speech.”
In case you are unfamiliar with the regulation to which Mr Breton was referring in his post, it is the Digital Services Act, or DSA, which came into force in February this year. Its main goal is to prevent hate speech and the spread of harmful disinformation.
It lays down rules for content moderation, transparency, and data access. In its preliminary findings in a probe against X for failure to comply with the above published a month ago, the Commission found that the online platform was in breach of the DSA.
X now has the possibility to exercise its rights of defence, or risk fines of up to 6% of its global turnover. The last word (or insult for that matter) is surely yet to be typed.