US ambassador slams EU tech rules as Musk’s X hit with fine
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The European Commission accused X of misleading users with its paid-for blue checkmark verification programme.
PHOTO: AFP
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BRUSSELS - US President Donald Trump’s envoy to the European Union accused the bloc of unfairly targeting American tech giants moments before it penalised Mr Elon Musk’s X social media network for violating a content law the White House hates.
“The only substantial meaningful fines that have been imposed so far have been against American companies,” Mr Andrew Puzder, the US ambassador to the EU, told Bloomberg Television’s Francine Lacqua in an interview on Dec 5.
“So at some point, if you are an American company, you have got to sit back and say: Look, am I being targeted here?” he added.
“Or is this an effort to try and advantage European competitors over US companies? And if that is the case, it it is something that the United States needs to respond to.”
Mr Puzder’s remarks prompted a sharp response hours later from his EU counterpart Jovita Neliupsiene, the bloc’s ambassador to the US.
The clash bracketed the unveiling of a €120 million (S$181 million) fine against X
The Commission, the EU’s executive branch, accused X of misleading users with its paid-for blue checkmark verification programme.
It also said X had stonewalled researchers seeking access to data and failed to create a proper advertising repository.
Ms Neliupsiene dismissed the notion that the bloc is targeting US companies, saying it has a right to enforce its rules
“This is really very clear,” she said in a separate Bloomberg Television interview.
“This is our sovereign right to regulate.”
The penalty was the EU’s first under its content-moderation law, the Digital Services Act.
The rules, as well as others regulating digital markets and antitrust behavior, have drawn the ire of Mr Trump’s administration.
“The legislation was drafted in a way that would basically cover only American companies,” Mr Puzder said.
Trump officials have particularly focused on a series of costly EU penalties against Big Tech firms, including more than €9.5 billion in fines against Alphabet’s Google and a separate order for Apple to pay Ireland back taxes of €13 billion.
Mr Trump has threatened to impose fresh tariffs and export restrictions on advanced technology over the issue. And US officials say they will not ease 50 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum products
“Our regulations are never targeting one country or one specific company,” Ms Neliupsiene said. “It is really geographically neutral.”
Mr Puzder argued that the EU’s digital rules are making it “difficult” for Europe “to get the cloud services and the sophisticated AI software that they need and the investment they need here in the European continent to participate in the AI economy”.
He also echoed Trump officials who have said the laws are infringing on free speech.
“The First Amendment is a very important right in the United States, the right to free speech, the right to free expression,” he said.
The EU has long argued that its tech regulation push is simply meant to curb market abuses as a handful of companies wield a huge amount of power across the digital sector.
Aside from standard antitrust rules, legislation has established a series of dos and don’ts for the major players in order to police anticompetitive behaviour.
“I think that what we are discussing right now – it is a noncompliance case,” Ms Neliupsiene said of the X investigation.
The Trump administration has also taken aim at EU sustainability regulations meant to ensure corporate supply chains comply with human rights standards.
The rules also require companies seeking to do business in Europe to have credible climate transition plans.
Such measures will hamper Europe’s energy plans, Mr Puzder said.
As part of a trade deal with the US, the EU has promised to buy US$750 billion (S$971.6 billion) of American fossil fuels and nuclear power over the next three years.
“When you make those kinds of restrictions, you make it very difficult for these producers to supply Europe with the energy that it needs,” Mr Puzder said.
“So I think it is a regulation that just is not in Europe’s best interest and is not in the best interest of making Europe a prosperous and vibrant economy.”
EU negotiators are expected to reach a deal on Dec 8 that would soften some of the corporate sustainability rules. BLOOMBERG
