Posts Tagged ‘Digital Services Act’

EU Tries To Suppress Trump Interview

Monday, August 12th, 2024

First came news that Elon Musk was going to interview Donald Trump on Twitter/X at 7 PM tonight.

Then came word that the EU is very, very upset that Donald Trump might be allowed free speech.

The European Commission is threatening X owner Elon Musk with possible legal consequences for his plans to air an uncensored interview with former president Donald Trump, and calling for Musk to balance the importance of free expression with the need to suppress “harmful” content.

European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton, one of the world’s most aggressive tech regulators, warned Musk that his planned Monday night interview with Trump could violate the Digital Services Act, or DSA, if X does not limit the spread of certain forms of online speech connected to the interview.

“As the individual entity ultimately controlling a platform with over 300 million users worldwide, of which one third [are] in the EU, that has been designated as a Very Large Online Platform, you have the legal obligation to ensure X’s compliance with EU law and in particular the DSA in the EU,” Breton wrote in a letter to Musk shared on X Monday.

“This notably means ensuring, on one hand, that freedom of expression and of information, including media freedom and pluralism, are effectively protected and, on the other hand, that all proportionate and effective mitigation measures are put in place regarding the amplification of harmful content in connection with relevant events, including live streaming, which, if unaddressed, might increase the risk profile of X and generate detrimental effects on civic discourse and public security.”

Translation: We can’t be allowing Donald Trump to commit #wrongthink we disapprove of, and as your global lords and masters, we demand the right to censor anything we disapprove of, and time, anywhere.

Breton reminded Musk of the ongoing proceedings against X related to alleged DSA violations, and the measures Musk must take to remain in compliance with the European Union’s restrictive tech regulation package.

Thankfully, Musk already told them to get fucked.

“Therefore, we are monitoring the potential risks in the EU associated with the dissemination of content that may incite violence, hate and racism in conjunction with major political – or societal – events around the world, including debates and interviews in the context of elections,” Breton added.

Where did the EU get the idea that unelected Euroelites have a right to censor the free speech of an American President being interviewed by an American tech billionaire on that same billionaire’s free speech platform?

The Thierry Bretons of the world should be ignored, mocked and sued when their pretensions of ruling the world clash with the rights of Americans to enjoy free speech unfettered from government control, or any other situation the ambitions of global elites clash with the Constitution of the United States of America.

(BTW, if anyone at Twitter is reading this, the appeal process for Twitter is still broken and my account is still suspended.)

Update: Looks like technical problems are doing a better job of silencing Donald Trump than the EU right now…

Elon Musk News Roundup For July 17, 2024

Wednesday, July 17th, 2024

A whole lot of Elon Musk news of note has popped up this week, so let’s dig in.

  • First, in the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt against Trump, Musk endorsed Trump for President.

    Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla, publicly endorsed Donald Trump for the first time in the U.S. presidential race, calling the Republican former president “tough.”

    Musk, the world’s richest person, posted the endorsement with a video of Trump with blood on his face pumping his fist after multiple shots rang out at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. Trump was safe.

    The posts cement Musk’s shift towards right-wing politics and hand Trump a high-profile backer in his quest to return to the White House in the Nov. 5 election.

    “I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery,” Musk posted.

    “The martyr lived,” he wrote, citing a reported debate between conservative venture capitalist Peter Thiel and LinkedIn co-founder and Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman.

    Musk later posted a photograph of Trump at the event, followed by: “Last time America had a candidate this tough was Theodore Roosevelt.”

  • Musk also revealed that the EU offered him a secret deal to censor Twitter/X.

    It IS true that Twitter’s current version violates the Digital Services Act, arguably, because the Digital Services Act is nothing but a censorship regime intended to shut down any speech that doesn’t parrot exactly what the Davos Elites want out there. That isn’t even an exaggeration; that is what it is intended to do.

    If George Orwell wanted to write a law to make 2024 look like 1984, the DSA would be a great first start. It is, I say unironically, evil.

    Elon clearly wants this fight, and he took his first shot back at the E.U. by revealing that they offered him and the other social media platforms a deal: comply with our censorship demands and we will help you deceive your users. He accuses the other social media platforms of taking the deal, and I believe him. Nobody is taking any shots at them because they have knuckled under.

    The European Union isn’t just doing it for their own Elites–they are collaborating with US policymakers, the intelligence “community,” the MSM, and the censorship industrial complex to do their dirty work because there are limits placed on what government can do due to the First Amendment.

    Europe will censor when the US is limited to.

  • Finally, Musk is moving Twitter and Space X headquarters to Texas over California’s transsexual-fueled attacks on parental rights.

    Billionaire Elon Musk said he is moving the headquarters of X and SpaceX out of California after governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill barring school districts from requiring teachers to notify parents if a child changes their gender identity.

    “This is the final straw,” Musk said in a social-media post Tuesday afternoon. “Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas.”

    Musk said he previously told the California governor a new law like this one would “force families and companies to leave California to protect their children.” Tesla moved its headquarters out of California to Austin, Texas in 2021.

    California is the first state to pass such a law, and conservative groups have said they plan to challenge it in court. Ongoing litigation may complicate those efforts. A San Bernardino County judge already blocked one school district’s parental notification policy after the state’s attorney general sued last year.

    The California Policy Center, a conservative think tank in the Golden State, said the new law “opens the door to child exploitation.”

    “Gov. Newsom has okayed a bill that was based on the flawed logic that parents are dangerous and not to be trusted, and that the state or strangers are better positioned to deal with the difficulties of adolescence than parents,” said Lance Christensen, vice president of education policy and government affairs. “Hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements with victims of sex assault by public school employees is evidence that the opposite is too often true.”

    Musk is reportedly moving Twitter/X headquarters to Austin. If so, I happen to know a Senior Technical Writer who is currently between jobs…

  • While writing this post, I was also going to cover how Musk was reportedly donating $45 million a month to a pro-Trump SuperPAC, but Musk himself just wrote that this report was “fake gnus.” Insert your own Linux pun here…