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Billionaire Ilon Musk claims the European Commission has offered his social platform X a secret agreement to "quietly censor speech" after accusing X of breaking the bloc's digital laws.
"The EC offered illegal collusion: if we quietly censor speech without telling anyone, we won't get fined," Musk wrote on X.
"The other platforms accepted this deal. X did not," he said. "We look forward to a very public court battle so the people of Europe can know the truth," Musk later wrote.
Musk's comments came in response to the European Commission's announcement that X was in breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA) in areas relating to opaque advertising models and data access for researchers.
The Commission warned that if its preliminary opinions were confirmed, X would have to pay hefty fines.
The European Commission categorically rejected Musk's claim. Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said: "There has never been and will never be any secret deal. With anyone."
"To be very clear: it was your team that asked the Commission to explain the settlement process and clarify our concerns. We did so in accordance with established regulatory procedures," he said in response to Musk.
"It is up to you to decide whether or not to offer commitments. That's how rule of law procedures work. We'll see (in court or not)," Breton added. | BGNES
