If Elon Musk does not follow European laws, the EU will shut down X in Europe, an MEP for Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party has threatened.
Sandro Gozi, who is Italian but elected as an MEP in France, made the threat in an interview with La Repubblica. The paper quotes him as saying:
“If Elon Musk does not comply with the European rules on digital services, the EU Commission will ask the continental operators to block X or, in the most extreme case, force them to completely dismantle the platform in the territory of the Union.”
Italian deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini condemned Gozi, calling his words “another disturbing threat to free speech in Europe.”
“Silencing the voice of millions of people in order to strike out at those who think differently from them? Unacceptable and disturbing.”
The call comes after the European Commission distanced itself from Internal Markets Commissioner Thierry Breton, who last week threatened Musk over an interview with former U.S. president Donald Trump.
Breton told Musk that failing to moderate any content on X that “may incite violence, hate, or racism … including in the context of elections” will face legal repercussions and the “full use of [the EU’s] toolbox.”
A Commission spokesman later said the timing and the wording of the letter “were neither coordinated nor agreed with the president nor with the [other commissioners].”
