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Elon Musk is now in a war of words with the EU after weeks of mudslinging over the UK’s handling of far-right violence.
The European Union sent a warning letter to the multi-billionaire reminding him of the bloc’s rules against promoting harmful content, ahead of his interview with former US president Donald Trump.
Musk responded with a Tropic Thunder film meme of Tom Cruise reading: “Take a big step back, and literally, f*** your own face”, which has racked up more than 40 million views.
The letter from EU digital commissioner Thierry Breton warned X was subject to the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), the bloc’s relatively new law regulating illegal content and disinformation on large social media platforms.
"Let me clarify that any negative effect of illegal content on X in the EU, which could be attributed to the ineffectiveness of the way in which X applies the relevant provisions of the DSA, may be relevant in the context of the ongoing proceedings and the overall assessments of X's compliance with EU law,” he said.
"This is in line with what has already been done in the recent past, for example in relation to repercussions and amplification of terrorist content or content that incites violence, hate and racism in the EU, such as in the context of the recent riots in the United Kingdom.
"I therefore urge you to promptly ensure the effectiveness of your systems and to report measures taken to my team."
Breton’s tweet appeared to paraphrase Spiderman’s famous catchphrase “with great power becomes great responsibility”.
It comes after Musk has repeatedly hit out at UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer with outlandish claims he was suppressing free speech and acting like the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in response to anti-immigration unrest.
Last week, Musk shared a video of a person purportedly being arrested for posting offensive comments online, asking: “Is this Britain or the Soviet Union?”
He also tweeted “civil war is inevitable” following violent unrest in the UK which followed a stabbing attack that killed three young girls in Southport, Merseyside. The riots were sparked by false claims about the suspect’s identity that were widely shared on X.
Number 10 hit back and said there was “no justification” for Musk’s comments, adding there was more that social media companies “can and should be doing”.
Musk then replied to a post on X from the prime minister - in which Sir Keir said he would not tolerate attacks on mosques or Muslim communities - asking: “Shouldn’t you be concerned about attacks on *all* communities?”
The tech mogul also shared a fake Daily Telegraph news article to over one-million X users which claimed Sir Keir was building detainment camps in the Falkland Islands for people convicted over the riots.
Alongside a screenshot of the forgery, he wrote “Detainment camps...” before deleting the post sent to his 194 million followers half an hour later.
Under his leadership, X has restored the accounts of many figures previously banned for breaking site rules around hate speech, including in some from the UK such as Tommy Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – and Katie Hopkins.
Since then, many users claim to have seen an increase in misinformation and hateful content, as well as pornography and spam posts and accounts, despite Musk claiming he would “defeat the bots” after taking over the company.
