Elon Musk Reveals European Commission Offered X 'Illegal Secret Deal' To Censor Free Speech As Thierry Breton Slams Platform's 'Blue Checks' As Deceptive

The European Union Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, has leveled charges against Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, alleging deceptive practices and lack of transparency. The tech billionaire has now alleged that the commission “offered X an illegal secret deal.”

What Happened: On Friday, Breaton took to X and accused the social media platform acquired by Musk of falling short of the standards set by the Digital Services Act of the 27-nation bloc.

He criticized X’s blue checkmarks, saying that these were once exclusive and signified “trustworthy sources of information.” However now, blue badges are accessible to anyone willing to pay $8 per month.

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Back in the day, #BlueChecks used to mean trustworthy sources of information✔️🐦

Now with X, our preliminary view is that:

❌They deceive users

❌They infrige #DSA

X has now the right of defence —but if our view is confirmed we will impose fines & require significant changes. pic.twitter.com/M9tGA5pYQr

— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) July 12, 2024

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In response to the accusations, Musk said, “The European Commission offered X an illegal secret deal: if we quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us. The other platforms accepted that deal. X did not.”

The European Commission offered 𝕏 an illegal secret deal: if we quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us.

The other platforms accepted that deal.

𝕏 did not. https://t.co/4lKsaRsYoA

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2024

Breton refuted these allegations, asserting that no “secret deal” has ever been made.

Be our guest @elonmusk ⚖️🇪🇺

There has never been — and will never be — any "secret deal". With anyone.

The DSA provides X (and any large platform) with the possibility to offer commitments to settle a case.

To be extra clear: it's *YOUR* team who asked the Commission to… https://t.co/8Wo7DXdap0

— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) July 12, 2024

Why It Matters: Earlier this month, the EU also issued a warning to X for failing to control harmful content. This was the third major action taken by EU regulators against prominent tech companies in recent weeks.

X now has an opportunity to address the accusations and implement the necessary changes to comply, making them legally binding. If the commission is unsatisfied, it can impose penalties of up to 6% of the company’s annual global revenue and mandate corrective action.

TikTok, the e-commerce platform AliExpress, and Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, are also under ongoing DSA investigations.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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