the Minister of Digital reminds that Elon Musk's network must “respect the rules”

Guest on BFMTV, Clara Chappaz once again stressed that Europe could ban X from its territory.

The standoff between Elon Musk and the rest of the world continues. After a tense weekend between the billionaire and a number of European leaders – including former commissioner Thierry Breton – the French minister in charge of Digital came to remind BFMTV that X was still threatened with banishment.

“Elon Musk, as a citizen, is free to say whatever opinions he wants,” said Clara Chappaz, this Monday, January 13. “We clearly disagree but he has the right to express his opinions.”

“What interests me as Minister of Digital is to know how Elon Musk uses his network to propagate his opinions” she continues. “We have the arsenal to enforce a certain number of rules on social networks and in particular the obligation for these platforms not to bias comments, not to spread false information.”

Very substantial fines

So can we imagine the banishment of X from European territory? “The European Union is carrying out an investigation,” she recalls. “If it turns out that Mr. Elon Musk is using his network to show more of these types of views, we will have a problem.

“I want to remind you that there are very significant fines: 6% of turnover and that we can go as far as banning” she threatens, nevertheless indicating that we had to wait for the result of the investigation European.

In the meantime, she reminds us that it is up to X to improve his moderation. “There are 5 million French people who connect to X on a regular basis. It’s not up to us to leave X.”