Explanation – How Musk’s interview with the leader of Germany’s AfD complies with EU laws Reuters
By Supantha Mukherjee and Philip Blenkinsop
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s expected hosting of Alice Weidel, head of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, to discuss his Platform X on Thursday has been monitored by the European Commission to check the spread of disinformation ahead of next month’s German elections .
The European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) is intended to tackle illegal content such as hate speech and deliberate manipulation to influence elections.
X has been under investigation under the DSA since 2023 for suspected dissemination of illegal content and the effectiveness of its anti-information manipulation measures.
HOW IS MUSK INVOLVED IN EUROPEAN POLITICS?
Since publicly endorsing Donald Trump to become US president last year, Musk has backed Britain’s right-wing Reform Party, as well as AfD on X.
“The traditional political parties in Germany have completely failed the people. The AfD is the only hope for Germany,” he posted on X last month.
Musk’s support for the AfD, an anti-immigration, anti-Islam party labeled as right-wing extremist by German security services, has caused consternation in Berlin, where all other parties have ruled out cooperation with a party they consider dangerous and undemocratic.
After a Saudi doctor killed five people at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg last month, Musk called German Chancellor Olaf Scholz an “incompetent fool” on X and called on him to resign.
WHAT IS THE EU DIGITAL SERVICES LAW?
The DSA regulates large online platforms such as X and Meta (NASDAQ: ) with more than 45 million monthly users in the European Union, as well as app stores from companies such as Apple (NASDAQ: ) and Alphabet (NASDAQ: ). Its main goal is to prevent illegal and harmful online activities and the spread of misinformation.
Musk’s X was the first company to be investigated by the DSA for illegal content, in December 2023.
A company can be fined up to 6% of its global annual turnover for violating the DSA, and up to 5% of its daily worldwide turnover for each day of delay in complying with remedies.
If the violation continues and causes serious harm to users, the Commission may request suspension of the service.
The Commission also initiated proceedings against Meta and the Chinese AliExpress, Temu and TikTok. All cases, including the one against X, are still open except for one against TikTok, which was closed after the video-sharing platform responded to EU concerns.
WHAT WILL THE REGULATORS DO ON THURSDAY?
Around 150 EU staff are responsible for the implementation of DSA, both in the Commission’s DG CONNECT department in Brussels and in the European Center for Algorithmic Transparency in Spain.
Former EU industry commissioner Thierry Breton reminded Weidel of Xu’s DSA rules intended to protect democracy around elections.
Senior EU officials acknowledge the challenge posed by Musk, but insist DSA is up to the job.
“Mr Musk is free to express his opinion in the EU online and offline, within legal limits,” said Michael McGrath, European Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, Rule of Law and Consumer Protection.
HOW MUSK CLASHED WITH EU?
The EU and Musk have clashed several times since he took over his social media platform, then called Twitter.
Before Musk interviewed Trump last August, Breton urged him to comply with EU law because the livestream would be available in the EU. X CEO Linda Yaccarino called the letter “an unprecedented attempt to extend a law intended to apply in Europe to political activity in the US.”
The EU accused X of misleading users with its blue tick, which previously indicated an account was verified as belonging to a public figure, but was changed to indicate a paid subscriber.
Musk threatened to sue and accused the Commission, without providing evidence, of offering Xu an illegal collusion to censor speech. Breton denied it.
The commission also accused X of failing to provide easy access to searchable and reliable information about ads and of denying researchers access to its public data.
