Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk says the European Commission offered his social media platform, X, an “illegal secret deal” to suppress free speech.
On July 12, the commission issued a press release stating that X was in breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA).
As Cointelegraph previously reported, should a final decision go against the social media platform, the European Commission (EC) could issue a fine of up to $200 million.
Contradicting Musk, EC spokesperson Thomas Regnier maintains that the commission has no intention of curbing users’ right to speak their minds.
“The objective of the Digital Services Act is to ensure a safe and fair online environment for European citizens that is respectful of their rights, in particular freedom of expression,” Regnier told Cointelegraph.
According to the commission’s press release, X is potentially in violation of the DSA on three counts.
The first is X selling “verified” blue checkmarks to the public. According to the EC, this “negatively affects users’ ability to make free and informed decisions about the authenticity of the accounts.”
Second, the EC argues that X does not comply with advertising transparency. Third, it says it does not do enough to assist researchers and public inquiries.
Explaining how the commission arrived at its decision, Regnier said, “The preliminary findings issued on July 12 to X are based on an in-depth investigation that included, among others, exchanges with the platforms’ compliance team, the analysis of internal company documents, interviews with experts, as well as cooperation with national Digital Services Coordinators.”
Musk strikes back
Musk rarely hesitates to publicly offer his opinion or strike back at those he believes to have aggrieved him.
Following the EC’s press release, Musk labeled the DSA “misinformation” before further explaining his side of the story.
“The European Commission offered X an illegal secret deal: if we quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us,” Musk claimed. “The other platforms accepted that deal. X did not.”
This response played well to the gallery, with many X users rallying to support Musk.
Tyler Winklevoss, founder of the Gemini crypto exchange, was among them. Winklevoss summed up the defiant mood of the X community by writing, “Thank you for this principled leadership. Keep fighting the good fight!”
The EC shows its teeth
Zornitsa Daskalova, global head of financial crime at management consultancy firm Optima Partners, told Cointelegraph that the EC’s action came only after a long process of evidence gathering and correspondence with X.
“The investigation took more than seven months,” Daskalova pointed out. “The EU’s Digital Commissioner Thierry Breton paid a visit a year ago in California and met with Twitter’s (as known then) senior management, warning them of the possible consequences and fines if Twitter was not in compliance with the DSA.”
“All of those actions do evidence the EU’s determination to show teeth and get those Big Techs in line with the EU regulation,” she added.
As Daskalova explained, a previously introduced EU regulation known as the General Data Protection Regulation “was viewed by some as a great legislative success but an enforcement failure given the less straightforward enforcement mechanism.”
However, with the introduction of the DSA, the EU has learned its lesson. According to her, the EU’s enforcement procedure “is now much better defined.”
Elon Musk’s Twitter files
Musk has long argued that government agencies privately lobby social media sites to suppress information and control the cultural zeitgeist.
His claim that the European Commission offered X a secret deal is reminiscent of his previous claims.
Beginning in December 2022 and continuing through March 2023, Musk released internal X documents to a series of journalists, including Matt Taibbi, Lee Fang and Bari Weiss. This release was dubbed “The Twitter Files,” owing to the social media site’s former name.
The first batch of correspondence concerned former United States president Donald Trump’s account suspension and the Hunter Biden laptop story.
Musk argued that the release supported his claims of censorship and government collusion, while his critics said they showed nothing more than the social media team struggling with difficult content moderation decisions.
Given Musk’s willingness to produce evidence during the Twitter Files saga, the question becomes whether he will do the same in response to the European Commission.
If Musk has evidence of wrongdoing, he has so far kept it to himself.
According to what Commissioner Breton wrote on X, “There has never been — and will never be — any ‘secret deal’. With anyone.”
Breton then appeared to issue a challenge to Musk, adding, “See you (in court or not).”
Cointelegraph reached out to X for comment but did not receive a response before publication time.