Yesterday the EU Commission launched action against the free speech platform x
Guilty of misinformation itself, the Commission seeks to control others whom it deems undesirable
Yesterday the EU Commission sent to Elon Musk’s X (still known by most people as Twitter) a formal request for information under the EU’s new Digital Services Act (DSA). This is the first step in what will inevitably become a massive fine for Elon Musk for permitting freedom of speech on his platform.
The Commission cited “indications received of the alleged spreading of illegal content and disinformation, in particular the spreading of terrorist and violent content and hate speech.” They go on to say they will also be requesting compliance with other provisions of the DSA as well.
The EU’s Digital Services Act is now being used to censor free speech worldwide
As the EU Commission flexes its new and ever-increasing legal muscles in Europe, below I show how this will affect the ability of ordinary people to make up their own minds about what they read and watch.
Here is what Ursula von der Leyen’s EU Commission announced yesterday.
“Following its designation as Very Large Online Platform, X is required to comply with the full set of provisions introduced by the DSA since late August 2023, including the assessment and mitigation of risks related to the dissemination of illegal content, disinformation, gender-based violence, and any negative effects on the exercise of fundamental rights, rights of the child, public security and mental well-being.
“In this particular case, the Commission services are investigating X’s compliance with the DSA, including with regard to its policies and practices regarding notices on illegal content, complaint handling, risk assessment and measures to mitigate the risks identified. The Commission services are empowered to request further information to X in order to verify the correct implementation of the law.”
- EU Commission, Fri 13 Oct 2023
In what must count as a supreme irony, the Commission announced this on… yes, you guessed it, Twitter (‘X’) at around 10 am yesterday morning.
What happens now?
Almost unbelievably, von der Leyen’s Commission has given ‘X’ (Twitter) just five days to provide a defence.
“X needs to provide the requested information to the Commission services by 18 October 2023 for questions related to the activation and functioning of X’s crisis response protocol and by 31 October 2023 on the rest. Based on the assessment of X replies, the Commission will assess next steps. This could entail the formal opening of proceedings pursuant to Article 66 of the DSA.”
“Pursuant to Article 74 (2) of the DSA, the Commission can impose fines for incorrect, incomplete or misleading information in response to a request for information. In case of failure to reply by X, the Commission may decide to request the information by decision. In this case, failure to reply by the deadline could lead to the imposition of period penalties.”
- EU Commission, Fri 13 Oct 2023
In its own words, the unelected EU Commission now controls what you can read and watch
If readers thought the disinformation they receive from the BBC was bad enough, in the EU the situation became immeasurably worse two months ago. Below is how the Commission describe their new powers.
“The DSA is a cornerstone of the EU’s digital strategy and sets out an unprecedented new standard for the accountability of online platforms regarding disinformation, illegal content, such as illegal hate speech, and other societal risks. It includes overarching principles and robust guarantees for freedom of expression and other users’ rights.
“On 25 April 2023, the Commission had designated 19 Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and Very Large Search Engines (VLSEs) on the ground of their number of users above 45 million, or 10% of EU population. These services need to comply with the full set of provisions introduced by the DSA since the end of August 2023.”
- EU Commission, Fri 13 Oct 2023
Vera Jourova is the EU Commission’s ‘Vice-President for Values and Transparency’
Ms Vera Jourova is a Czech and is in effect the Commission’s ‘attack dog’ when it comes to Elon Musk. She is clearly out to extract fines from all large internet companies including Meta (Google) but Mr Musk’s ‘X’ platform is singled out in this latest flexing of the unelected Commission’s new powers.
According to Ms Jourova in a briefing to journalists at the end of last month, X is “the platform with the largest ratio of mis- or disinformation posts.”
Possibly it did not help Mr Musk’s popularity in Brussels when he announced in May of this year at a London event that his electric vehicle business Tesla will “strongly consider” building its next European gigafactory in England. Mr Musk said his company was preparing to look for a location. “We are not currently looking at new locations but we will probably towards the end of this year.”
With its new ‘Digital Services Act’ the Commission now has the legal wherewithal to control what its citizens read or watch. I consider this to be deeply sinister for an unelected body, akin to the old days of the party apparatchiks in the Soviet Union and Communist China.
This is the nature of the EU now and this is what the unreconstructed Remainer-Rejoiners wish the UK to be part of once again. This is the sclerotic and dictatorial organisation which Sir Keir Starmer and his Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy would like us “to get closer to”.
I say an unequivocal no
My advice to Elan Musk would be to fight the EU tooth and nail and he could start by banning for life and the official EU X account and again banning for life the x accounts of every MEP including Ms Vera Jourova and every Comisionair including their President Von der Leyen’s.
As Mr Musk is finding out the EU is against freedom of speech and always has been.
Sources: EU Commission
