Outgoing European Commission Vice President Věra Jourová in a recent interview said that X owner Elon Musk "started to relativize evil [with the social media platform], and he's helping it proactively; and claimed that "He's the promoter of evil.” Since acquiring then Twitter in April 2022, the SpaceX and Tesla chief has faced harsh criticisms from left-wing European politicians and bureaucrats over so-called hate speech and lax moderation on X.
Jourová, a left-wing Czech politician, was the EU’s justice chief from 2014-2019 and has been in charge of “values and transparency” since 2019. She said big tech companies have “monstrous power in their hands,” adding “I'm really scared by digital platforms in bad hands."
The outgoing official claimed X is “the main hub for spreading antisemitism now;” adding that she warned ministers from EU capitals on Tuesday to be vigilant to the possibility of online antisemitism spilling over into the real world. “Now we are in the situation where the member states’ law enforcement powers have to protect the people who are under threat, under physical threat,” Jourová said. “This is what I mean ... This new chapter, new intensity of antisemitism, where we don't see sufficient action from the side of the platforms.”
Jourová who has never met Musk in person, said that “even without this personal meeting, I would say that out of all the bosses I met, he is the only one who is not able to recognize good and evil.”
The EU has passed a raft of digital legislation in recent years, which critics argue harm innovation and freedom of expression. But “We have to be sure that the innovations are developed to do good to people,” Jourová argued. And EU officials like the EU’s former internal market chief Thierry Breton have clashed with Musk publicly over the X owner's pro-free speech stance and approach to online content moderation.
Jourová, who is leaving Brussels after 10 years at the Berlaymont, led work on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a landmark privacy regime that went into force in 2018. The push to change the GDPR law by tech companies will be a key issue for incoming Commission tech chief Henna Virkkunen, Jourová said.
The EU has since passed the Artificial Intelligence Act, Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act. And officials have become increasingly aggressive and authoritarian, critics argue, in trying to control the platforms and content on the internet.
