Former European Commissioner Thierry Breton has been accused by social media users of having been less than truthful on X.
On January 19, Breton, the ex-EC “digital enforcer’ of the European Union’s tech laws, was invited on to Le Grand Rendez-Vouz, a French multimedia interview programme broadcast on radio and TV.
One of the subjects discussed was the closing down of social media platforms in light of the difficulties the Chinese company TikTok has been having in the US.
Breton was asked about French President Emmanuel Macron’s early January claims that US tech mogul and X owner Elon Musk aimed to establish a “reactionary international” in Europe — suggesting a far-right coalition that would require a “political counter-response”.
The former Commissioner said possible restrictions against X had nothing to do with politics.
“We are talking about one man,” Breton said. “One man who is the reputed leader of a business, Elon Musk, but nothing more than a businessman.
“Here in Europe, speech is free. Everything is free. In the United States, when there is a problem, they shut down platforms. They just closed down TikTok. We would never do that.
“But that is the United States, everyone has their own way of doing things.
“We would never do such a thing in Europe. We don’t have the legal means to do it,” Breton continued.
“The law only says that if a platform does not respect the laws, which were approved by 90 per cent of MEPs, you can get fined and if that continues, there is the possibility for a judge to temporarily halt the operation as long as the problem is not fixed. But [that was] never what happened in the US.”
Following his pronouncements, internet users were quick to react.
Under the tweet of the interview, a French Community Note appeared claiming: “Thierry Breton is lying. He threatened to close down X in Europe.”
It was accompanied by a link to a news article from October 2023, where Breton was reminding X it could be refused access to European markets in the event of non-compliance with the European regulations in force.
« Chez nous en Europe, la parole est libre. Aux États-Unis, quand on a un problème, on ferme les plateformes, ils viennent de fermer TikTok, nous on ne ferait jamais ça », déclare @ThierryBreton, dans #LeGrandRDV sur #Europe1. pic.twitter.com/KQjQ7ubNoQ
— Europe 1 (@Europe1) January 19, 2025
In September 2023, Brussels Signal reported that Breton suggested the EU could start cutting off certain websites within a matter of hours using the Digital Services Act (DSA).
He said that the European Commission deemed it “proportionate” to unilaterally shut down certain social media websites, to many clearly meaning X, which was pushing for more free speech at the time.
He later accused the platform of allowing itself to be used to “disseminate illegal content and disinformation”.
The EC also took aim at X’s Community Notes feature, expressing concern that its implementation may fail to “combat information manipulation”.
Despite this criticism, both Google and Facebook announced in early January they would adopt the feature themselves while pushing back against the EU for what they called the bloc’s “censorship” of them.
Google has rejected demands by the European Commission to add fact-checking to its search results and YouTube videos as well as to use fact-checking in ranking and removing content. https://t.co/YiMHGSoyhE
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) January 17, 2025
