Elon Musk and his dubious reputation in Europe

Published at: 23/08/2024 05:00 PM

The billionaire and well-known South African businessman Elon Musk, famous for his eccentricities and unconventional behavior, used to meddling and giving his opinion on the internal affairs of countries, now seems to be very interested in the reality of Venezuelans, we know that it is not out of solidarity with any position, he simply seeks, as he has done in Bolivia, to guarantee the raw material for his technological industry.

However, in this article we will talk about Musk's credibility and the use of the social network X to promote lies and disinformation and how international media react differently when it comes to Venezuela.

In December 2022, Musk announced that he was lifting the suspension, which he imposed on a dozen journalists, after the European Union (EU) threatened him with sanctions and the United Nations (UN) denounced a “dangerous precedent”. This happened after the EU threatened the owner of X with sanctions and the UN denounced that “the voices of the media should not be silenced on a platform that professes to give space to freedom of expression,” said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the same.

In January 2023, Musk was called to testify in a trial for spreading false information. Musk was in court because of a misleading Twitter message in 2018, in which he said that his company Tesla “had secured private funding.” Shares soared and then fell when it became clear that the car manufacturer was not going to leave the Stock Exchange. Some shareholders sued him and the millionaire defended himself, claiming that “just because I tweet something, it doesn't mean that people believe it,” published the EURONEWS portal.

Months later, in March 2023, the website The Cube reported that the EU will force Musk's social network to moderate its content through the Digital Services Act, which will require platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to take measures against illegal content or will be exposed to large fines for incurring the spread of this type of contents.

According to The Financial Times, EU regulators have asked Musk to hire people to verify and monitor illegal content and disinformation. All major social networks will have to comply with this Act, which would come into full force in 2024.

According to an analysis by the French Press Agency (AFP), the owner of X has repeatedly shared false information, including from accounts on the platform itself known for misinforming. When Musk bought Twitter, he promised to turn the platform into the “most accurate source of information about the world, that's our mission.”

But according to that analysis, Musk has repeatedly shared false claims from some of the platform 's biggest disinformation accounts. He also published another post falsely claiming that former French President François Hollande admitted that “the West overthrew the Government of Ukraine during the Maidan Revolution in 2013.” However, the EURONEWS portal fact-checked these statements and stated that Hollande never said that during this interview in question or before.

According to information policy experts, Musk 's attitude is worrying because with more than 135 million followers on X, he has forced the platform's engineers to increase the reach of their publications. In April 2023, there was an increase in disinformation on the social network, public figures and government organizations have lost their blue verification, leading to the appearance of imitating and fraudulent accounts.

Then in June of that year, Musk assured that he would comply with European regulations, which include allowing access to X algorithms and all platforms. Since August last year, the EU can do so. The Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, held a meeting with X executives via videoconference: “My mission is simply to ensure that as of August 25 they will respect the Law or will not be able to continue operating in Europe. And everyone wants to continue operating in Europe.” But until now, no one has denounced the EU as a dictatorship or an oppressive regime.

Months later, in October of that year, the EU demanded that X delete thousands of disinformational accounts and publications about Israel and Palestine, as reported by the EU's head of digital rights, Thierry Breton, who gave the social network X just 24 hours to explain how the platform will comply with the new digital standards of the European bloc.

The social network X has deleted hundreds of accounts linked to Palestine and removed or tagged thousands of content since the development of the war in Israel, according to the CEO of the company formerly known as Twitter. The executive director of the social network X, Linda Yaccarino, said that “an effort is being made to control the illegal content that proliferates on the platform.”

Yaccarino thus responded to the request for information made by the EU regarding the platform 's compliance with the new and strict digital standards during the war between Israel and Palestine: “X is evaluating and addressing in a proportionate and effective way the false and manipulated content identified during this changing and constantly evolving crisis”, in a letter to European Commissioner Thierry Breton, responsible of the application of digital rights in the block of 27 countries.

The European Commission, made up of Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden, is convinced that the social network X is violating European digital standards in key points such as the dissemination of illegal content.

“The opening of the procedure means that we are now going to investigate X systems and policies related to some suspicious violations,” said European Commission spokesman Johannes Barke.

Elon Musk has also been accused of promoting hate messages, as we saw in November of that year. The White House accused the billionaire of “vilely encouraging” anti-Semitism. Musk agreed with a post that said that Jews encouraged “hatred against white people”. This is why the White House accused him of “abominably promoting anti-Semitic and racist hatred.” The tycoon also responded to the owner of an account who wrote that Jews promote “hatred against white people” with this message: “You told exactly the truth.”

Apparently, no matter how much money Musk has, he is not a person to trust.

AMELYREN BASABE/Mazo News Team