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   Chuck Darwin (cdarwin@c.im)'s status on Sunday, 10-Nov-2024 02:36:37 JST Chuck Darwin

   JD Vance has suggested that American support for NATO should be predicated on the European Union not regulating Elon Musk and his X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.

   The Republican vice presidential nominee and Ohio senator claimed in an interview with YouTuber Shawn Ryan that a top EU official had threatened to arrest the billionaire if he allowed former President Donald Trump back on X.

   “The leader, I forget exactly which official it was within the European Union, but sent Elon this threatening letter that basically said, ‘We’re going to arrest you if you platform Donald Trump,’ who, by the way, is the likely next president of the United States,” Vance said in the interview published last week.

   Trump’s running mate then suggested that US support for NATO should be used as a cudgel to get the Europeans in line.

   “So what America should be saying is, if NATO wants us to continue supporting them and NATO wants us to continue to be a good participant in this military alliance, why don’t you respect American values and respect free speech?” Vance asked.

   “It’s insane that we would support a military alliance if that military alliance isn’t going to be pro-free speech. I think we can do both. But we’ve got to say American power comes with certain strings attached. One of those is respect free speech, especially in our European allies.”

   Musk has been accused of banning several journalists since taking over Twitter, now X.
   https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/jd-vance-elon-musk-x-twitter-donald-trump-b2614525.html

   • Bill repeated this.
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     Chuck Darwin (cdarwin@c.im)'s status on Sunday, 10-Nov-2024 02:36:37 JST Chuck Darwin

     in reply to

     The US ranked 26th in the world when it comes to free speech, with several members of the European Union higher up the list, according to the 2024 Global Expression Report.

     Internal market EU Commissioner Thierry Breton wrote on X in July that the platform’s verification system of users using blue checks is deceiving.
     “Now X has the right of defence —but if our view is confirmed we will impose fines & require significant changes,” he added.

     Musk who responded at the time, saying: “We look forward to a very public battle in court, so that the people of Europe can know the truth.”
     “The European Commission offered X an illegal secret deal: if we quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us. The other platforms accepted that deal. X did not,” he added in another post.

     X could face disciplinary action under the EU Digital Services Act that was put in place in 2022. The legislation includes a number of regulations stating that platforms have to take responsibility for protecting European users from illegal content and disinformation.