The House Judiciary Committee condemned the European Union's efforts to “silence great Americans like Elon Musk” and warned that it will investigate the EU's attempts to “violate free speech,” according to the letter seen by The Washington Post.
On Thursday, commission president Jim Jordan wrote to EU commissioner Thierry Breton, arguing that the EU commissioner was trying to “weaponize” the law against Musk.
The letter comes days after a French politician posted an open letter to Mr X warning Musk not to amplify “hateful content” ahead of his broadcast conversation with former President Trump.
The letter points to EU legislation passed in 2022 that could allow owners of social media platforms such as X, Facebook and Tik Tok to be fined billions of dollars for the “amplification of content that promotes hatred, disorder, incitement to violence, or certain instances of disinformation” in European countries.
Elon Musk fired back at a European Commissioner who warned him not to spread harmful speech during a conversation with President Trump. The Associated Press Jim Jordan, pictured with President Donald Trump, launched a broader investigation into censorship, looking into how the administration has helped “censor lawful speech.” The Associated Press
Jordan accused Breton, a liberal, of targeting Musk and Trump, both conservatives, in an attempt to intimidate them.
“In light of recent threats of retaliation against Company X for promoting political speech in the United States, we are writing to demand that you cease any attempts to intimidate individuals or groups engaged in political speech in the United States,” he wrote.
“Here, government officials can intimidate, coerce or threaten individuals engaging in free speech.”
Check out today's most important news
Stay up to date with the latest news in the Evening Update.
Thank you for subscribing!
Shortly after Breton published the letter, the European Commission quickly distanced itself from it, saying it had not endorsed it.
“I wanted to respond with this Tropic Thunder meme… but I would never be so rude and irresponsible!” Musk wrote in a sarcastic post to X's roughly 200 million followers.
The Trump campaign also slammed the EU, accusing EU officials of trying to interfere in U.S. politics.
“The European Union should focus on its own business, not meddling in a U.S. election,” said Steven Chang, a spokesman for the Trump campaign.
Donald Trump met with Elon Musk for more than two hours on Monday night, discussing everything from the assassination attempt on Trump to deportation. Margo Martin (via Reuters)
“Let me be clear: the European Union is an enemy of free speech and has no power whatsoever to dictate how we run our election campaigns.”
Jordan has also held U.S. leaders accountable, issuing a subpoena to the State Department to learn about the administration's communications with the EU on the issue.
“The silence from the pro-censorship Biden-Harris Administration has been deafening. Even they would find the censorship of American speech by a foreign government to be excessive,” Jordan's spokesman told The Washington Post.
Jordan's strongly worded letter is part of a larger effort by lawmakers to oppose censorship.
Jordan slammed the White House for its inaction, calling the silence “deafening.” SHAWN THEW/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock In a strongly worded letter, Jim Jordan wrote that the United States “will not threaten, coerce or intimidate individuals engaging in free speech.” Jemal Countess/UPI/Shutterstock
Last year, the Judiciary and the Select Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government began investigating “the extent to which the executive branch has coerced or conspired with corporations and other intermediaries to censor lawful speech.”
“The Select Subcommittee investigated how other governments, including the European Union, have sought to censor online speech in an effort to increase oversight,” one of the reports noted.
While members of Congress cannot investigate foreign governments, they can defend and protect American companies by publicly opposing censorship.
