Elon Musk has sparked controversy after calling for the abolition of the European Union.
Credit : Frederic Legrand – COMEO, Shutterstock
Elon Musk is making headlines in Europe once more – and never for the explanations Brussels would love.
Just days after the European Union slapped his social community X (previously Twitter) with a €120 million nice underneath the Digital Services Act (DSA), the billionaire boss of SpaceX and Tesla went on the offensive, calling for nothing lower than the abolition of the EU itself.
Posting on his personal platform on Saturday, December 6 Musk wrote: “The EU ought to be abolished and sovereignty returned to particular person international locations, in order that governments can higher symbolize their individuals.” The remark unfold quickly, with hundreds of shares and tens of hundreds of replies – drawing each applause from supporters and sharp criticism from these accusing him of whipping up political pressure.
The outburst comes as X turns into the primary main tech platform to be fined underneath the EU’s new digital guidelines, designed to crack down on deceptive design practices and pressure tighter transparency requirements throughout social networks.
Why Brussels focused X
At the center of the EU’s determination is X’s revamped blue tick verification system. Since Musk took over the platform, customers can obtain a “verified” badge just by paying a subscription payment – with out present process a real id test.
According to the European Commission, this setup misleads customers into believing blue-tick accounts are genuine, when no actual verification takes place. Brussels says the function might enable faux profiles or impersonators to seem credible, particularly throughout delicate political discussions or breaking information occasions.
But the blue ticks aren’t the one concern.
EU regulators additionally accused X of failing to supply a transparent promoting database and proscribing entry to public knowledge for unbiased researchers, each of that are obligations underneath the Digital Services Act. These guidelines have been launched to permit higher monitoring of disinformation campaigns, on-line political promoting and manipulation of public opinion.
The Commission has now given X:
- 60 working days to overtake the way it points verification badges.
- 90 days to submit a full plan to repair its promoting transparency issues.
EU officers have warned that additional penalties might observe if X doesn’t meet the brand new necessities.
US backlash fuels the row
Brussels’ transfer instantly sparked an offended response from Washington, additional escalating the state of affairs.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio labelled the nice an “assault on American know-how firms and the American individuals.” He claimed the choice went past regulation and amounted to political strain geared toward silencing US platforms overseas.
Rubio’s remarks have been rapidly echoed by Vice-President JD Vance, who described EU enforcement as an assault on free expression relatively than honest oversight, arguing that the bloc ought to defend speech as an alternative of focusing on US companies.
Both males used X itself to air their objections – a element not misplaced on critics – serving to to turbocharge a transatlantic social media storm already dominated by Musk’s provocative name to dismantle the European Union altogether.
A rising digital conflict
For many analysts, Musk’s feedback mirror a wider tradition conflict between American tech leaders and European lawmakers. The EU insists that the Digital Services Act is just not about censorship however about shopper safety, transparency and public security on-line. Its goal, officers say, is to cut back fraud, misinformation and impersonation with out interfering with free speech.
Musk and his allies see issues very in another way, framing Europe’s calls for as bureaucratic overreach and a risk to open debate.
What’s clear is that Musk’s name for the EU to be scrapped has struck a nerve far past the tech world, pulling Brussels-Washington relations into the highlight and injecting a extremely political edge into what was initially a regulatory matter.
Whether X will comply absolutely with the DSA within the coming months stays to be seen. But one factor is for certain: that is now not nearly blue ticks or advert registries – it has turn into a symbolic showdown between Big Tech and European authority.
And with Elon Musk on the centre of the storm, it’s unlikely to fade quietly.
