Elon Musk on Saturday, January 11, called the former European digital commissioner, the Frenchman Thierry Breton, a “tyrant of Europe” in a new and tense online exchange between the two men linked to the billionaire’s support for the German far-right.
At the end of December, Musk estimated in a message on the X platform, which he owns, that “only the AfD can save Germany.” The comment caused a stir in Europe. Breton then described the comment as “foreign interference.”
“Dude, American ‘foreign interference’ is the only reason you don’t speak German or Russian today,” Elon Musk replied, alluding to the American landing in France during World War II.
“A staggering absurdity”
The dispute was reignited this week following an interview with Mr Breton on the BFMTV/RMC channel, in which he declared: “Let us remain calm and enforce our laws in Europe when they risk being violated. ‘Be circumvented (. ..) We did it in Romania and obviously it will have to be done if necessary in Germany.
On Saturday, Elon Musk responded to X by evoking “the surprising absurdity of Thierry Breton as tyrant of Europe.”
Close to US President-elect Donald Trump, who will return to the White House on January 20, Musk regularly criticizes European regulations in the digital field, accusing Brussels of censorship. Mark Zuckerberg, the head of Meta, has aligned himself with this position.
In response to Elon Musk’s message, Breton also wrote about whether he is in the EU.
Network X was formally charged in July with several alleged crimes. For each of them, and in case of non-compliance, the Commission could impose on Elon Musk a fine of up to 6% of the annual global turnover of all the companies it controls, that is, several billion euros.
The European Commission announced in December the opening of an investigation against the Chinese social network TikTok, accused of having failed to comply with its obligations and opening the door to possible Russian manipulation in the presidential elections annulled in Romania by the Constitutional Court.
Source: BFM TV
