The EU Commission has slapped a 120-million-euro fine on online service X for its lack of transparency on advertising and user accounts. Elon Musk, the platform’s owner, reacted by posting on X: “The EU should be abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries, so that governments can better represent their people.”
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Brussels must stand strong
The coming months will be a stress test for the EU, Le Temps proclaims:
“Further attacks of this kind are bound to follow as Brussels implements a string of regulations including the Digital Services Act (DSA). And X will remain on its radar. The criticism [from the US] will undoubtedly be echoed by the populist parties in Europe, who will seize on this opportunity. All these critics will, like J.D. Vance, get up in arms about the threat to freedom of speech, although in reality these regulations aim to increase transparency and combat disinformation. It remains to be seen whether Washington will use this and future fines as a pretext to relaunch its trade dispute with the EU. Brussels must stand strong.”
Investigation focused on verifiable points
Die Zeit explains why the penalty is so mild:
“The trial is an important test balloon for the EU Commission. It has to be legally watertight. If X wants to appeal the penalty, the case is likely to end up before the European Court of Justice (ECJ). To lose there would be an incredible loss of face for the EU Commission. This is why the investigation took so long and why it concentrated on specific, verifiable points such as the breach of transparency obligations, while leaving other aspects out for the time being.”
Mr X is not entirely wrong
The greatest threat to freedom of speech in Europe has actually been Brussels itself for quite some time, Die Welt argues:
“The Digital Services Act, which was set up to combat ‘disinformation’, ‘hate speech’ and ‘fake news’, is paving the way for the silent exercise of censorship, with which government agencies and semi-governmental reporting centers are allowed to arbitrarily determine what is true and what is false – often with fatal consequences, as demonstrated by the state’s restriction of the pandemic debate on Facebook and Twitter. … Instead of getting all upset that the mad hooligan Musk is calling for the ‘abolition’ of the EU, Europe should pay attention to the rather sizeable grain of truth in his criticism of the EU.”