It seems a long time ago when Thierry Breton, then European Commissioner for Digital Affairs, published pictures of him and Elon Musk on his Twitter account (now X). It has been more than a year and a half that the rift has been burning between the two men, since Brussels’ attempt to impose regulation on social networks. But it has become even more inflamed in recent weeks and the interference on the part of the American-South African billionaire in European political life.
Elon Musk called Thierry Breton a “tyrant of Europe”this Saturday, in another tense online exchange between the two men. This is the latest episode in a verbal battle that began at the end of December, when the head of X openly expressed his support for the German far right. Elon Musk estimated in a message on his social network that “Only the AfD can save Germany”two months before the country’s legislative elections. The comment caused an uproar in Europe. Thierry Breton therefore described the remark as “foreign interference”.
“Dude, American ‘foreign interference’ is the only reason you don’t speak German or Russian today,” replied Elon Musk, alluding to the American landing in France during World War II.
Tyranny or fake news
The dispute was rekindled this week after an interview with the former European commissioner on the BFMTV/RMC channel, in which he stated: “We keep our calm and apply our laws in Europe when they risk being circumvented (…). We did it in Romania and obviously it will have to be done if necessary in Germany.”.
That earned him this message on X from Elon Musk, evoked “The astonishing absurdity of Thierry Breton as the tyrant of Europe”.
In response Thierry Breton wrote, also in X: “Tyrant of Europe? wow! But no one @elonmusk: the EU has no mechanism to cancel an election anywhere in the EU. Not at all what is said in the video below linked to applications only of the DSA (European regulation on digital services, editor’s note) Lost in translation… or another fake news?
Before adding: “Another fake news … eradicated”
Anti-regulation crusade
Elon Musk regularly criticizes European regulations in the digital field, accusing Brussels of censorship. However, the European Commission shows great passivity in front of the billionaire who is increasing his support for the AfD, calling for the resignation, and even the imprisonment, of the British Prime Minister and accusing the Canadian government of corruption with the support of his government. social network X. And this, even if he is promised a major position in the future American administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
An anti-regulation stance that is emulated among tech barons. Mark Zuckerberg, the head of Meta, aligned himself with this position, thus approaching Donald Trump, who will return to the White House on January 20. In a stunning video, published on Tuesday, Mark Zuckerberg announced the abandonment of any rigorous content moderation on Meta’s social networks (Facebook, Instagram). That constitutes both a sign of loyalty to Donald Trump and Elon Musk, but also a demonstration of the crusade of the new American power against the regulation of the European Union.
Despite this passivity of Brussels, the DSA is still at work in Europe. Based on this regulation, the European Commission announced in December the opening of an investigation against the social network of Chinese origin, TikTok, accused of having failed to fulfill its obligations and opened the door to possible Russian manipulation in the presidential election annulled in Romania by the constitutional court.
Similarly, the X network was formally indicted in July for several alleged crimes. For each of them, and for the lack of compliance, the Commission could impose a fine on Elon Musk up to 6% of the annual global turnover of all the companies it controls, that is to say several billion euros.
