The Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament has demanded that the European Commission provide details of what it claimed was a “disgusting” plan to censor Elon Musk’s X.
More than a dozen MEPs from the right-wing group penned a letter on July 29 demanding the EC hand over details of the alleged agreement, which was left unknown to the public until Musk revealed he had rejected it earlier in July.
“Elon Musk claimed that the Commission offered an illegal secret deal to X, the essence of which was that if X secretly censored speech, the Commission would not fine them [under the DSA],” the letter read.
We put a question to the @EU_Commission concerning the alleged deal they offered to @elonmusk about secretly censoring speech on the platform. Biased application of EU media regulation, the censorship of political opinions & blackmailing @X is unacceptable. Find the letter below… pic.twitter.com/NkA5qiyF9y
— Kinga Gál (@kingagalMEP) July 29, 2024
“He also stated that while the other platforms accepted that deal, X did not.
“This raises serious concerns about the biased application of the DSA [Digital Services Act] and the push by the Commission for the censorship of politically undesirable content,” it added.
Speaking to Brussels Signal, one of the signatories, Hermann Tertsch, said the EC’s proposal as revealed by Musk represented “a new step in the path of repression” being undertaken by Brussels.
The Spanish Vox party politician added that the move was an attempt by the losers of the Eueopean Parliament elections in June to clamp down on free speech in the hopes of maintaining their power.
“I wouldn’t expect anything else with this alliance from [Ursula] von der Leyen — from the EPP,” he said.
“It is a really disgusting development.”
The European Union is offering to make “illegal secret deals” with big tech companies to enable the censorship of social media, X boss Elon Musk has claimed. https://t.co/gm422vL2hU
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) July 12, 2024
Asked whether he had seen any documents related to the deal, Tertsch said he had not, but added that he had “no reasons to doubt” Musk’s claims on the affair were accurate.
He also expressed scepticism when asked whether he expected the EC to reveal anything of substance about the deal, describing the body having “no accountability” and “no transparency”.
“I have no hope and no expectations that they will [release any of the documents] because they are so arrogant. They have no respect whatsoever for the interests of the people and the main principles of democracy. They couldn’t care less,” Tertsch stated.
He cited the EU’s activities in South America as evidence of this, describing Brussels as maintaining “profoundly corrupt” relations with left-wing governments in the region.
Tertsch added that the likes of von der Leyen’s European People’s Party group, along with the Socialists and Democrats group, existed to protect that status quo.
“The two big parties are there to protect this corrupt, bipartisan, kind of consensus,” he said.
The MEP also lashed out at the media in Brussels, adding that social media platforms such as Musk’s X were among the few places left where EU corruption could be exposed.
“Where do you get your information from? From Politico? From where? They are all the same,” he said.
“You see the information on the TV, in Euronews, it’s nonsense. Everything is propaganda. Permanent propaganda.
“The censorship of X is one of the most important things, because it is harmful to them.
“They are worried, and they react with panic to any awareness of people — of the society — and they want to suppress it. By all means,” Tertsch concluded.
Senior European Commission officials are brandishing the threat of fines over changes made by Elon Musk to the “blue check” system used by his social media giant X. https://t.co/9ByxaseQKs
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) July 12, 2024
