Elon Musk reveals illegal proposal from European Commission

Elon Musk, the owner of the social media platform X, claimed that the European Commission (EC) offered an illegal "secret deal" to avoid fines in exchange for silently censoring speech, and that X did not accept it.

Musk's reaction came after the EC informed X that it had violated the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) in areas related to dark patterns, advertising transparency, and data access for researchers.

In a statement on his social media account regarding the matter, Elon Musk said, "The European Commission offered an illegal secret deal: if we quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us. The other platforms accepted that deal. X did not."

HEAVY FINES MAY BE IMPOSED

The European Commission announced today that it had sent its preliminary findings to the company regarding the investigation into the X platform, stating that it had violated the Digital Services Act.

In the Commission's statement, it was noted that the investigation found evidence that the X platform's blue checkmark was designed and operated in a misleading way, and that it was used by malicious actors to deceive users.

The statement noted that X did not provide the necessary transparency regarding advertising and that researchers were not granted access to public data in accordance with the conditions specified in EU laws.

The statement reported that after this stage, X could defend itself against the preliminary findings by examining the documents in the Commission's investigation file, and that if the preliminary findings were confirmed, a fine of up to 6 percent of X's total annual global turnover could be imposed, and the company would be required to take measures to remedy the violation.

DENIAL FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION REGARDING ELON MUSK'S CLAIMS

The European Union (EU) rejected the claims by Elon Musk, the owner of the social media platform X, that an illegal "secret deal" had been offered to avoid fines in exchange for silently censoring speech.

Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for Internal Market, stated in a post on his X social media account, referring to Elon Musk, "There has never been and will never be a secret deal with anyone."

Reminding that the EU Digital Services Act gives X and other large platforms the opportunity to offer commitments to resolve the case, Breton said, "To be clear, your team asked the Commission to explain the settlement process and to clarify our concerns."

Pointing out that the Commission acts in accordance with legal procedures, Breton stated, "Whether or not to offer commitments is up to you. That is how rule of law procedures work. See you in court, or not."

In response to Musk's statement that he would take the EU to court, Breton said, "As you wish."