‘There is a risk of amplification of potentially harmful content in EU in connection with events with major audience around the world,’ the official wrote.
X CEO Elon Musk during the UK Artificial Intelligence Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, in central England, on Nov. 1, 2023. (Leon Neal/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
The European Union’s (EU) internal market regulator sent a warning letter to X owner Elon Musk ahead of his interview with former President Donald Trump on the platform, saying that “interim measures” could be taken against the social media site.
On Monday, Thierry Breton, the commissioner for internal market, sent a letter to Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino about the Trump broadcast, which occurred on Monday evening.
“With great audience comes greater responsibility,” Breton wrote in the letter, posted on X. “As there is a risk of amplification of potentially harmful content in connection with events with major audience around the world, I sent this letter to [Elon Musk].”
Regulations under the Digital Services Act (DSA) “apply without exceptions or discrimination to the moderation of the whole user community and content of X (including yourself as a user with over 190 million followers) which is accessible to EU users and should be fulfilled in line with the risk-based approach of the DSA, which requires greater due diligence in case of a foreseeable increase of the risk profile,” Breton wrote.
The interview was accessible to users in the EU, Breton wrote, adding, “In this context, I am compelled to remind you of the due diligence obligations set out in the Digital Services Act.”
“My services and I will be extremely vigilant to any evidence that points to breaches of the DSA and will not hesitate to make full use of our toolbox,” which could include adoption of the interim measures, he said.
Breton did not elaborate on the measures the EU could take. However, in previous warnings to Musk on separate issues, Breton warned that X could be fined up to 6 percent of annual revenue.
The DSA law requires very large platforms to do more to tackle what they regard as illegal content and risks to public security.
Last month, EU tech regulators ruled that X breached the DSA and that it deceived users through its use of blue checkmarks. X said it disagreed with the EU’s assessment on how it complies with the DSA, and owner Musk threatened litigation.
X’s chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, responded to the letter by saying that it is an “unprecedented attempt to stretch a law intended to apply in Europe” to target political activity inside the United States.
Musk responded directly to Breton’s letter with a meme that included a vulgar word. Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, wrote that the EU “should mind their own business” and accused them of attempting to interfere with the U.S. election in November.
The EU, he added, “has no authority of any kind to dictate how we campaign.”
The Epoch Times has contacted the European Commission, the executive branch of the EU, for comment. A spokesperson for the commission told the Financial Times that Breton did not have approval from EU President Ursula von der Leyen to send the letter to Musk.
“The timing and the wording of the letter were neither coordinated or agreed with the president nor with the [commissioners],” the spokesperson said Tuesday.
In July, the EU accused Musk’s X of violating the DSA for allegedly deceiving users by allowing them to purchase a blue “verified” account status. Musk said he would engage in a “very public battle” with European regulators in court.
During the Trump–Musk event on X, technical problems delayed its start by about 40 minutes. Musk, who has endorsed Trump, blamed the difficulties on a distributed denial-of-service attack, in which a server or network is flooded with traffic in an attempt to shut it down. His assertion could not be verified.
Trump sought to turn the problems into a positive, congratulating Musk on the number of people trying to tune in.
X said that Trump’s talk with Musk received 73 million views between 7:47 p.m. and 10:47 p.m. ET. There were also 4 million posts about Trump and Musk during the same time period, garnering nearly 1 billion views, according to the social media platform.
The technical issues recalled a similar event on X in May 2023, when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suffered a chaotic start to his bid for the Republican presidential nomination due to glitches on the platform.
Also on Monday, Musk said that he would be willing to host Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ nominee for president, for an interview on his platform.
Trump also returned to X with a series of posts on Monday for the first time in about a year, reviving an account that had served as a main method of communication in previous campaigns and his four years in the White House.
The posts mainly pertained to his campaign, including videos praising his record and offering proposals if he is elected.
Reuters contributed to this report.