EU's Breton says Musk must comply with EU law ahead of Trump interview

FILE PHOTO: Tesla hands over first cars produced at new plant in Gruenheide

FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk attends the opening ceremony of the new Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars in Gruenheide, Germany, March 22, 2022. Patrick Pleul/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

EU industry chief Thierry Breton told billionaire Elon Musk in a letter on Monday he must comply with EU law ahead of Musk's interview with U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump on social media platform X.

The interview, scheduled for 8PM Eastern Time (0000 Tuesday GMT), will also be accessible to users in the EU, Breton wrote, adding: "In this context, I am compelled to remind you of the due diligence obligations set out in the Digital Services Act (DSA)."

"DSA obligations apply without exceptions or discrimination to the moderation of the whole user community and content of X (including yourself as a user with over 190 million followers) which is accessible to EU users and should be fulfilled in line with the risk-based approach of the DSA, which requires greater due diligence in case of a foreseeable increase of the risk profile", Breton wrote in his letter.

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The DSA law requires very large platforms to do more to tackle illegal content and risks to public security.

Last month, EU tech regulators ruled that X breached the DSA and that it deceived users through its use of blue checkmarks.

X said it disagreed with the EU's assessment on how it complies with the DSA while owner Musk threatened litigation.

This article was produced by Reuters news agency. It has not been edited by Global South World.

By Reuters