It follows a sustained attack by Elon Musk on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, including calls for him to be replaced, as well as an intervention in support of the far-right AfD party in Germany.
Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg announced earlier this month that fact-checkers would be scrapped on the platform and that he would work with incoming US president Donald Trump to “push back” against greater regulation of social media – a direct challenge to UK and EU legislation.
But doing so could present a difficult diplomatic problem for Starmer who is working to create good relations with the incoming Trump adminstration and avoid any trade tariffs promised by Trump which could harm the UK economy.
But insiders in London and Brussels say that Musk – and other tech billionaires lining up to support the incoming president – pose a unique threat, both in Britain and the EU.
Musk, the world’s richest man who will serve in Trump’s next administration, has launched multiple attacks on Starmer over child grooming and his role as Britain’s chief prosecutor before he became PM, citing false claims that he covered up the Rochdale grooming scandal.
His relentless campaign against Starmer has been noticed by EU officials, who fear Musk might turn similar levels of attention to European countries or the EU itself.
An official in the EU Commission told The i Paper that Brussels has been watching Musk’s attacks on Starmer with interest, having noted his interest in Germany’s far-right Alternative fur Deutschland. Germany will hold federal elections later this year.
Brussels sees the threat posed by Musk and the content on X as part of a much wider challenge the EU will face from the big American tech companies, whose leaders appear to be cosying up to Trump ahead of his return to the White House.
Essentially, they fear that users on X will increasingly only see opinions that chimes with Musk, much of which will be based on false information. This, they say, could in practice mean more hate speech and disinformation amplifying whatever Musk is fixated on at any given moment – with the snowball effect that his interest in Starmer serves as a warning.
Facebook monitoring
This, officials worry, could be just the first step in a wider anti-EU drive over the next four years, ultimately pushing towards lighter regulation in Europe for American companies.
The immediate risk, as officials see it, is that social media becomes a Wild West where anyone can publish anything and unverified or illegal content is pushed on European citizens.
There are legal instruments that can be used against tech firms. The EU’s Digital Services Act, for example, allows the EU to take action against platforms allowing the spread of disinformation or illegal content, fining them or potentially shutting down their websites. Meanwhile, The i Paper reported last week that Starmer’s Government is already looking to beef up its rules on disinformation and online safety.
There is also a problem for the Government which has expended a lot of diplomatic effort into ensuring good relations with Trump. A key hope is for better trade relations with the US, and exemption from trade tariffs Trump has threatened to impose.
“It might be that when we try enacting laws against US social media companies, this will set off a round of punitive actions by the US government protecting its companies,” says a senior EU official.
This kind of paralysis could have an impact beyond disinformation and threats to democracy.
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“Trump wants to win the tech race and therefore give opportunities to US tech companies to win, while the EU is stuck under a mountain of regulation,” said one lobbyist.
A spokesperson for the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology said: “We are looking closely at Meta’s announcement impacting its US platform. Regardless of any changes in Meta’s policy, from March the UK’s Online Safety Act will oblige social media platforms to remove illegal content – including illegal disinformation – and content harmful to children.
“We remain in regular contact with all major platforms about the action being taken to prepare for these laws, and urge them to counter the spread of misinformation and disinformation hosted on their sites. But our message is clear – there is no need to wait, they should take action now to protect their users.”
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