Elon Musk on Saturday described the former European Digital Commissioner, Frenchman Thierry Breton, as a “tyrant of Europe” in a new tense online exchange between the two men linked to the billionaire’s support for the German far right.
At the end of December, Elon Musk estimated in a message on the X platform, which he owns, that “only the AfD can save Germany”. The comment caused a stir in Europe. Thierry Breton then described the remark as “foreign interference”.
A latent war between Musk and Breton
“Dude, American “foreign interference” is the only reason you don’t speak German or Russian today,” retorted Elon Musk, in an allusion to the American landing in France during World War II.
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The quarrel was rekindled this week following an interview with Thierry Breton on the BFMTV/RMC channel, in which he declared: “Let’s keep our cool and enforce our laws in Europe when they risk being disrupted. be circumvented (…). We did it in Romania and it will obviously have to be done if it is necessary in Germany.”
On Saturday, Elon Musk responded on X by evoking “the astonishing absurdity of Thierry Breton as a tyrant of Europe”.
Tech aligns with X
Close to American President-elect Donald Trump, who will return to the White House on January 20, Elon Musk regularly criticizes European regulations in the digital field, accusing Brussels of censorship. Mark Zuckerberg, the boss of Meta, has aligned himself with this position.
In response to Elon Musk’s message, Thierry Breton also wrote on X: “Tyrant of Europe? Wow! But no Elon Musk: the EU has NO mechanism to cancel any election anywhere in the EU.”
Tik Tok targeted by Brussels
The X network was formally indicted in July for several alleged offenses. For each of them, and for lack of compliance, the Commission could impose a fine on Elon Musk of up to 6% of the annual global turnover of all the companies he controls, i.e. several billion dollars. ‘euros.
The European Commission announced in December the opening of an investigation against the social network of Chinese origin, TikTok, accused of having failed in its obligations and opened the door to possible Russian manipulation in the canceled presidential election in Romania by the constitutional court.
