The EU is under pressure to flex its new digital rules.
One of its top targets is a tech tycoon lauded by the new U.S. president.
7 November 2024 (Brussels, Belgium) — Elon Musk’s X platform was already proving a tough test for the European Union’s efforts to police social media. Donald Trump’s reelection just raised the stakes, giving the tech tycoon some powerful backing that could fuel U.S.-EU tensions.
Musk is a “super genius,” Trump said in his victory speech in the early hours of Wednesday morning. “We have to protect our geniuses.”
That genius could be heading for a European Union fine, the first under its Digital Services Act (DSA), which aims to clamp down on illegal and toxic content online. X got EU charges in July for breaching those rules over verified users, advertising transparency and giving researchers access to data.
The EU can levy fines of up to 6 percent of X’s annual global revenue — and the final figure could be hefty, since the Commission is considering calculating the penalty from income derived from Musk’s other companies, including SpaceX and Neuralink.
But the Commission now finds itself between a rock and a hard place over how it polices U.S. Big Tech:
– The EU already has a raft of investigations into tech firms for not complying with its new digital rules. It needs to show that it’s willing to back those threats with muscle, in the form of financial penalties or ordering companies to change what they do.
– But they cannot piss off EU consumers. Companies like Apple are not providing advanced features that might violate EU rules, denying its EU customers features they want. But we’ve been building a Balkanized web for years, so it may not matter.
Trump vowed last month not to let the EU “take advantage of our companies,” saying Apple CEO Tim Cook had called him to complain about an EU antitrust fine and back-tax order. There may soon be more to complain about, as Apple is set to get the EU’s first fine for not complying with digital competition rules.
Musk courted Trump like no other, putting at least $200 million into a campaign group (fellow Big Tech billionaires put in another $200 million combined, according to the New York Times), even offering daily $1 million checks for voters who signed a petition. He said this week that he was willing to spend even more to counter funding from progressive sources.
As tech maven David Winer had predicted when Musk bought it (“stop with this ‘he overpaid!’ crap. He bought a political bullhorn, you idiots, not a commercial enterprise!!”), Musk’s overhaul of Twitter, which he renamed X, has turned the platform into a right-wing haven credited with providing massive disinformation (and Russian influence) to help swing the election to Trump.
But European lawmakers are urging the EU executive not to back down. Alexandra Geese, a German Green member of the European Parliament, said:
“The European Commission now needs to stand tall and defend EU platform rules, or we are lost”.
Dutch Green MEP Kim van Sparrentak echoed that in a statement:
“Especially now, with the election of Trump, it’s more important than ever that Europe rises to defend our rights and democracy, also online”.
Campaigners against Big Tech also chimed in. European politicians need to “reclaim power by challenging big tech’s power grab,” said Jan Penfrat, senior policy adviser at digital rights group EDRi
But most Commission insiders say Trump’s deep ties with Musk will spell trouble for regulators, with this “dynamic duo” primed for a collision course with Europe’s pro-democracy regulation.
Others are trying to play down that risk. Said Bulgarian center-right MEP Eva Maydell:
“Elon Musk is undoubtedly an even more powerful man today, but Europe is built on the rule of law. If X/Twitter or any other platforms breach EU law then we take action. I don’t think that needs to become a major transatlantic diplomatic spat. But he’ll have the backing of a very powerful U.S. President so anything goes”.
X has already been a point of EU friction since it was labeled a “very large online platform” last year, marking it as in need of Commission oversight. Former EU digital enforcer Thierry Breton clashed several times with Musk, mainly on X. Breton’s exit in September was greeted by X CEO Linda Yaccarino as a “good day for free speech.”
But the big concern is Trump’s return could also fray EU-U.S. cooperation on tech policy, especially the Trade and Technology Council (TTC), where officials meet regularly to align on topics such as artificial intelligence governance or the chips supply chain. While never overtly about China, the summit gave officials a place to find ways to deal with China’s growing tech power. Yesterday, EU tech lobbies and lawmakers on urged that initiative to stay on course. The feeling was the priority must be “to bind the businessman Trump to us”, as expressed by Bart Groothuis, a Dutch MEP for the Renew group. “It’s China’s wish to break the transatlantic bond”.
But in interviews, Trump’s tech advisors have already been saying “we want the guardrails off AI. This is a war with China”.
Hence the comment by Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, the head of tech lobby DigitalEurope:
“Look, the TTC will not survive, but we need somehow to continue our important work together on digital. True, have no players in the game and we lack any real influence, but we need to leverage what we have”.
Finnish politician Henna Virkkunen is set to step in as the EU’s tech czar in a role that will require her to figure out the EU’s “tech sovereignty,” an acknowledgment that Europe relies heavily on the United States for critical technology, such as cloud services and microchips, and on Asia for many key products and supplies.
Virkkunen will also be tasked with enforcing online content rules, on which she has promised to be “rigorous.”
She’ll have her chance next week during her confirmation hearing. She’ll be under pressure to show European lawmakers that she’ll handle that difficult balancing act as she aims to get their vote to confirm her in her new job.
And late yesterday Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier came out with the expected statement:
“We reaffirmed the EU executive’s commitment to its content-moderation rules. The election in the United States will not impact our enforcement work to ensure compliance with the Digital Services Act in the European Union”.
Get out your 🍿
