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Who’s for the First Amendment—and Who Isn’t

9 3
17.08.2024

“There’s a lot of opposition to just hearing what President [Donald] Trump has to say,” Elon Musk said at the beginning of his two-hour interview on X with the 45th and would-be 47th president.

Musk noted, “I got a letter from the EU Commission, like, saying to not have disinformation during this discussion we’re having. And there’s a lot of attempts to do censorship and to force censorship even on Americans from other countries.”

That’s not quite right, but it’s close.

The letter was not from the European Commission, but from EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, a French citizen and former CEO of France Telecom. The letter purports to remind Musk of the European Union’s Digital Services Act’s requirements of “all proportionate and effective mitigation measures” regarding “detrimental effects on civic discourse and public security.”

In other words, X must censor questions to and answers from an American presidential candidate and keep the EU informed of its censorship procedures.

What must be censored? “The amplification of content that promotes hatred, disorder, incitement to violence, or certain instances of disinformation.” Breton reminds Musk of “formal proceedings … already ongoing against X under the [Digital Services Act].”

Nice little digital company you’ve got there. Wouldn’t want anything to happen to it.

It would surprise America’s Founders........

© The Daily Signal


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