Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – Elon Musk’s controversial plan for a live chat with a German extreme-right leader on X this week is allowed under European Union laws but will be scrutinised for potential violations of electoral interference rules, Brussels said on Monday. The world’s wealthiest man — who owns the X social media platform — has provoked fury across Europe with a string of attacks on the continent’s leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Musk has offered strong support to the extreme-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) ahead of snap elections in the country on February 23, and will host a discussion on X with the party’s leader Alice Weidel on Thursday. His X platform is already under investigation under the European Union’s landmark content law — known as the Digital Services Act (DSA) — regarding how it tackles the spread of illegal content and information manipulation.
The EU’s digital spokesperson said a live discussion on X was not a violation of EU rules and insisted the DSA did not “censor any type of content.” “Nothing in the DSA prohibits the owner of a platform or anyone to host a live stream and express his personal views,” spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters in Brussels. “Mr Musk is allowed to express his personal views, his political opinions in the EU online and offline,” he added.
But Regnier noted that the ongoing probe of X “includes suspected breach in areas related to management of risks on civic discourse and electoral processes.” He said the EU would “carefully” assess the live stream and could include it in its current investigation depending on whether any risks are identified.
Platform owners, he said, must ensure they are “not misused or giving a preferential treatment to certain types of content, or an increased visibility to just one type of content.” Under the DSA, users have the right to opt out of seeing certain content, which means X should allow users to avoid any mentions of the AfD chat if they wish. The EU wants to know whether X uses its algorithms to promote far-right messages.
On January 24, the EU’s executive arm — the European Commission — will hold a discussion with German authorities, civil society organisations and the world’s biggest digital platforms, including X, to discuss the risks online ahead of Germany’s election. The EU launched its probe into X in December 2023. In July 2024, it formally accused the platform of misleading users with its blue checkmarks for certified accounts, of insufficient advertising transparency, and failing to give researchers access to the platform’s data.
© 2024 AFP
