MEP pens letter to EU Commission, urging them to examine Musk’s use of X

A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) has written to the EU Commission to ask them to examine Elon Musk’s use of X ahead of upcoming elections.

The MEP Damian Boeselager, who is a candidate for the Bundestag in the German election which takes place on 23 February, took to LinkedIn to share the letter he has sent.

Within it, he states how “many German and European citizens are increasingly concerned about the concentration of economic and political power in the hands of Elon Musk…”

The letter continues as Boeselager says he hopes “your team is looking into these matters to protect fair and free elections in Europe.”

Alongside the screenshot of the letter, the MEP shared a screenshot from an X post which is an announcement about a live conversation between Elon Musk and Alice Weidal on the platform.

Nur noch 3 Tage! Am 9. Januar ab 19 Uhr findet der angekündigte Space mit Elon Musk und mir auf X statt.
Only 3 days to go: On January 9th at 1pm EST, the announced Space with Elon Musk and me will go live on X. pic.twitter.com/pbN1ah1Wse

— Alice Weidel (@Alice_Weidel) January 6, 2025

He described this as being “one of the reasons” he is bringing the topic up.

Weidal is the leader of the far-right Alternative for Deutschland and the livestream event will include the Tesla owner who has over 211.4 million followers on his social media site.

Lawmaker described EU Commission as being ‘very slow or too slow’ in investigating social media platforms

The MEP also shared “a rather pressing question” he had as he stated: “There are indications that Mr Musk hard-coded a multiplier into the code of X,” and asked whether this is legal under the Digital Services Act. This allegation hasn’t been confirmed.

In a conversation with The Guardian, the MEP said he became more concerned about the issue after the entrepreneur waded into European politics. “I don’t understand why people believe that free speech is not affected by the concentration of opinion-making power in the hands of the few.

“For me, that has rather illiberal, autocratic tendencies, rather than liberal tendencies, when one voice is so much more powerful than all the others.”

A Swedish center-right lawmaker, named Arba Kokalari, also told the publisher that the Commission was “very slow or too slow” in investigating social media platforms, including X.

Featured Image: AI-generated via Ideogram

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