Daria Mosolova

Europe ramps up its battle with Elon Musk

A public dispute between Elon Musk and the European Union has sharpened concerns in Europe about its ability to wield power over the sprawling social media platform X at a time when disinformation and deepfakes have helped to fuel political discord and an outbreak of UK rioting. Europe has taken a tougher approach to regulating digital platforms than the US, but Musk’s acquisition of X, then called Twitter, almost two years ago has brought the issue into greater focus after he slashed its moderators, restored previously banned accounts and increased his own outspoken posts. The EU’s interna