ADDS RESPONSE FROM EUROPEAN COMMISSION; CHANGES DECK
WASHINGTON (AA) – Businessman Elon Musk on Friday claimed that the European Commission offered his X platform an "illegal secret deal" to "quietly" censor speech after the commission accused it of breaching EU digital laws.
"The European Commission offered X an illegal secret deal: if we quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us," Musk wrote on X.
"The other platforms accepted that deal. X did not," he said."We look forward to a very public battle in court, so that the people of Europe can know the truth," Musk wrote later.
Musk's statement came in response to the European Commission saying earlier Friday that X is in breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA) in areas linked to "dark patterns, advertising transparency and data access for researchers.”
The commission warned that if its preliminary views are confirmed, X could face severe fines.
The European Commission firmly denied Musk’s claim, with Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton saying: "There has never been – and will never be – any ‘secret deal.’ With anyone."
"To be extra clear: it’s *YOUR* team who asked the Commission to explain the process for settlement and to clarify our concerns. We did it in line with established regulatory procedures," he said in response to Musk on X.
"Up to you to decide whether to offer commitments or not. That is how rule of law procedures work. See you (in court or not)," he added.