Musk
‘lying like hell’ over AfD interview, says ex-EU tech leader
Thierry
Breton says EU is not trying to censor tech chief’s discussion with Alice
Weidel of German far-right party
Lisa
O'Carroll in Dublin
Thu 9 Jan
2025 14.15 GMT
A former EU
leader on tech has accused Elon Musk of “lying like hell” by claiming the bloc
was trying to stop an interview the owner of X had set up with the co-leader of
the German far-right party Alternative für Deutschland.
Thierry
Breton, who quit as a European commissioner in September, having overseen the
passage of ambitious legislation designed to regulate big tech, said Musk had
been disingenuous in claiming the EU was trying to censor his discussion with
Alice Weidel, due to take place on Thursday evening.
The US
billionaire claimed on Wednesday on his social media platform: “First, the EU
tried to stop me from having an online conversation with president
@realDonaldTrump. Now they want to prevent people from hearing a conversation
with Alice Weidel, who might 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 chat 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 be interviewing Weidel, whose anti-immigration party is
polling at about 19% in the run-up to Germany’s elections next month, Breton
sent a similar warning to Weidel through a post on social media, a step which
appears to have prompted Musk’s accusations on Wednesday.
In an
interview with the Guardian, Breton said: “Now because I sent a letter to Mrs
Weidel, he [Musk] is saying the EU want to prevent people from having a
conversation. We are twisting information [here].”
Asked if
Musk was lying, Breton said: “He is lying like hell. Nobody tried to stop him
from having a conversation with Trump, nobody is trying to stop him having one
in Germany.”
The
Frenchman said he had always had good and constructive face-to-face relations
with Musk but that the Tesla chief had mocked and insulted him online. Recently
Musk called him “annoying” and, in August, he cited a quip from the US
satirical film Tropic Thunder, inviting the then commissioner to “take a big
step back and literally, fuck your own face”.
X was
approached for comment.
The spat is
the latest in a series started by Musk in recent weeks, including hostile
attacks on the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the German chancellor,
Olaf Scholz, that have provoked fury across Europe.
Breton urged
leaders to be vocal about the spread of misinformation and hate. “We need
leadership, especially these days. Europe is working only if we have a strong
leadership,” he said.
X is under
investigation by the European Commission under the DSA, partly shaped 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
on our platform, while protecting freedom of expression”.
Insiders
said an adjudication had been expected in autumn 2023 but the commission had
needed to give X time to make its legal defence. Some suggested that
conclusions would be published shortly.
Breton
declined to comment on the investigation, but said he wanted to stress that the
DSA had nothing to do with silencing critics or “stopping freedom of speech”,
which he said was “cherished” by all democracies in Europe.
“In Europe,
freedom of speech is paramount, it is extremely important in all member states
for overall democracy, for the courts of justice, it is something untouchable,”
he said.
But, he
added, it operated within a framework of laws that also banned antisemitic
speech, racist hate speech and terrorist apologists, which tech companies were
obliged to heed.
“These are
forbidden by law in the physical space, in the street, in the media and now
also in the digital space,” he said, adding that social media companies, unlike
old media, had an unprecedented power to “accelerate and amplify massively”
content to audiences, and that with this power came responsibility.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário