The European Union (EU) warned X owner Elon Musk on Monday against promoting or engaging in hateful content on his social media platform ahead of a planned interview with former President Donald Trump.
Trump announced the interview, which will air on X on Monday night, last week. Musk recently endorsed Trump for president, and said the interview will be “unscripted with no limits on subject matter.”
EU Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton reminded Musk that X is subject to the EU's Digital Services Act, which attempts to regulate illegal content and disinformation posted online. The EU already charged the platform millions of euros last month for failing to obey the union's laws.
“As the relevant content is accessible to EU users and being amplified also in our jurisdiction, we cannot exclude potential spillovers in the EU,” Breton said in a statement posted to X. “Let me clarify that any negative effect of illegal content on X in the EU … may be relevant in the context of the ongoing proceedings and of the overall assessment of X’s compliance with EU law."
Musk responded with a profanity-laced meme that told Breton to "Take a big step back and literally, f*** your own face."
The Trump campaign also responded to the EU's warning, claiming it should "mind [its] own business instead of trying to meddle in the U.S. Presidential election."
"Only in Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' America can an un-Democratic foreign organization feel emboldened enough to tell this country what to do," Trump's communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement. "They know that a President Trump victory means America will no longer be ripped off because he will smartly utilize tariffs and renegotiated trade deals that puts America First. Let us be very clear: the European Union is an enemy of free speech and has no authority of any kind to dictate how we campaign."
The interview is expected to take place on X at 8 p.m. Eastern.
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