Thierry Breton, a European Union (EU) bureaucrat and the current European Commissioner for Internal Market, issued a warning to Elon Musk ahead of his interview with former President Donald Trump, citing concerns regarding the U.K. protests, stating:
I am writing to you in the context of recent events in the United Kingdom and in relation to the planned broadcast on your platform X of a live conversation between a US presidential candidate and yourself, which will also be accessible to users in the EU.
In the letter addressed to Musk, Breton warned that X’s parent company X Corp. is subject to the Digital Services Act (DSA), a 2022 EU regulation:
I am compelled to remind you of the due diligence obligations set out in the Digital Services Act (DSA)…. You have the legal obligation to ensure X’s compliance with EU law and in particular the DSA in the EU.
He urged Musk to “promptly ensure the effectiveness of your systems and to report measures taken to my team.” He reminded Musk that the DSA applies “without exceptions or discrimination to the moderation of the whole user community and content of X,” despite Musk not being a citizen of any EU member state and X Corp. being a U.S. company.
At first, Musk responded to Breton on X by merely stating, “Bonjour!” He later revealed he wanted to respond with an obscene meme image:
To be honest, I really wanted to respond with this Tropic Thunder meme, but I would NEVER do something so rude & irresponsible!
