Everything blown out of proportion?

Musk and Weidel’s chat triggers EU review

AfD leader Alice Weidel and Elon Musk(Bild: Krone KREATIV/APA 2x)

Following the bizarre conversation between Elon Musk and AfD chancellor candidate Alice Weidel on the tech billionaire's social network X, the EU is considering expanding its investigation. Possible breaches of EU rules are under consideration.

It was literally a conversation about God and the world. The richest man in the world and the AfD leader philosophized about the fact that so much evil was happening in the world - how could God stand by and watch? Germany should also return to nuclear power and Hitler was portrayed as a communist.

"We are currently investigating whether the scale is large enough," Henna Virkkunen, Vice-President of the EU Commission responsible for technology policy, told the broadcaster. The Commission is now investigating whether the live-streamed conversation between Musk and Weidel on X last week was unfairly exaggerated in order to give a political candidate an advantage. According to Bloomberg TV on Monday, this would violate the DSA.

Musk is an advisor to US President-elect Donald Trump. Neither X nor the European Commission responded to requests for comment from the Reuters news agency.

Illegal content and risks to public safety
The EU launched an investigation into the platform at the end of 2023, partly in connection with posts following the Hamas attacks on Israel. This is the first investigation of its kind under the EU Digital Services Act (DSA). The regulations oblige very large online platforms and search engines to do more to combat illegal content and risks to public safety.