Good News: The EU Wants To Censor Elon Musk
Why we have to break free from a right-wing, individualistic interpretation of free speech
The European Union, much like you, is sick of Elon Musk's shit.
Unlike you, the EU has an enormous regulatory weapon to wield against Musk's anti-democracy algorithmic weapon, and European officials reportedly plan to do just that in the coming months. If Musk refuses to comply with the EU's Digital Services Act – which seeks to protect member nations from the horrors of coordinated misinformation campaigns and illicit content – he could be out a billion dollars or more.
From The New York Times:
European Union regulators are preparing major penalties against Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, for breaking a landmark law to combat illicit content and disinformation, said four people with knowledge of the plans, a move that is likely to ratchet up tensions with the United States by targeting one of President Trump’s closest advisers.
The penalties are set to include a fine and demands for product changes, said the people, who declined to be identified discussing an ongoing investigation. These are expected to be announced this summer and would be the first issued under a new E.U. law intended to force social media companies to police their services, they said.
European authorities have been weighing how large a fine to issue X as they consider the risks of further antagonizing Mr. Trump amid wider trans-Atlantic disputes over trade, tariffs and the war in Ukraine. The fine could surpass $1 billion, one person said, as regulators seek to make an example of X to deter other companies from violating the law, the Digital Services Act.
On today's video, I talked about the pushback I got from a Bluesky post celebrating the EU's move against Musk's destructive algorithm and why we have to break free from a right-wing, individualistic interpretation of free speech if we are going to avoid sliding further into autocracy (and before I forget, I wanted to share with the BFT folks a podcast about how Poland beat back authoritarianism and what we might learn from them).
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