EU considers expanding probe into Musk’s X, says digital chief

BRUSSELS – The European Union is considering expanding its investigation into whether billionaire Elon Musk’s X social network breached its content moderation rulebook, the bloc’s top digital official said. 

“We are currently assessing if the scope is large enough,” the European Commission’s executive vice-president Henna Virkkunen told Bloomberg TV when asked about the ongoing probe X is facing under the EU’s Digital Services Act, or DSA. 

The commission started formal proceedings against X in December 2023, accusing the platform of failing to tackle illegal content and disinformation. It also said it suspected X of breaching obligations around transparency and deceptive design. 

EU scrutiny of the platform increased in recent months as Mr Musk, now a key adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, started endorsing far-right personalities such as chancellor candidate Alice Weidel from the Alternative for Germany party, ahead of the country’s Feb 23 snap elections.

The commission is examining whether a

live-streamed conversation between Mr Musk and Ms Weidel

on X on Jan 9 was unfairly boosted to give a political candidate an advantage, in violation of the DSA. Large online platforms found in breach of the DSA face fines of up to 6 per cent of yearly global sales.

Concerns about foreign interference in EU countries’ elections have escalated since Romania’s top court annulled its presidential election in December following intelligence reports alleging Russian meddling, including via social networks. This triggered the EU to open a DSA probe into TikTok, owned by China-based company ByteDance, over its role.

But the EU’s ambition to rein in foreign digital giants via its powerful legal instruments will likely face challenges after Trump’s inauguration later in January. Trump is facing lobbying from Big Tech leaders, who are asking the White House to push back against the EU.

Mr Musk has openly feuded with EU officials on X and has promised to challenge any unfavourable DSA decision in court, while Mr Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Meta Platforms, recently called on Trump to defend US companies from EU fines. 

“It’s almost like a tariff,” Mr Zuckerberg said on Mr Joe Rogan’s podcast last week. “I think the US government gets to decide how they’re going to deal with that.”

Big Tech’s pushback against European regulators comes as Trump ramps up his expansionist rhetoric, refusing to deny that he might use military force to take over Greenland, which is part of Denmark, an EU country.

“We are looking forward to when he is taking his position as the president of the United States,” Ms Virkkunen said. “We are willing to cooperate very closely with him.” BLOOMBERG