The House Oversight Committee has slammed the European Union’s efforts to “silence great Americans like Elon Musk,” and is threatening to investigate their attempted “infringement on free speech,” according to letters reviewed by The Post.
On Thursday Committee Chair Jim Jordan fired off a missive to EU Commissioner Thierry Breton who, he alleges, is trying to “weaponize” law against Musk.
The letter comes days after the French politician posted an open letter to X warning Musk against amplifying “hateful content” ahead of a broadcast conversation with former President Trump.
The letter pointed to EU legislation passed in 2022 which makes the owners of social media platforms such as X, Facebook and Tik Tok potentially liable for billions in fines for the “amplification of content which promotes hatred, disorder, incitement to violence or certain instances of disinformation” in European countries.
Jordan accused Breton, a liberal, of singling out conservatives Musk and Trump and attempting to intimidate them.
“In light of your recent threats of reprisal toward X Corp… for facilitating political discourse in the US, we write to demand that you stop any attempt to intimidate individuals or or entities engaged in political speech in the United States,” he wrote.
“Here, government bureaucrats may hot intimidate, coerce, or threaten individuals engaged in free speech.”
Soon after Breton posted his letter, the European Commission quickly distanced themselves, saying they had not authorized it.
Musk posted sardonically to his nearly 200 million X followers:“I really wanted to respond with this Tropic Thunder meme… But I would NEVER do something so rude and irresponsible!”
The Trump campaign also slammed the EU, claiming its official is trying to interfere with US politics.
“The European Union should mind their own business instead of trying to meddle in the US Presidential election,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said.
“Let us be very clear — the European Union is an enemy of free speech and has no authority of any kind to dictate how we campaign.”
Jordan is also holding US leaders responsible and slapped the State Department with subpoenas to learn about the Administration’s communication with the EU about this matter.
“The silence from the pro-censorship Biden-Harris Administration is deafening—you would think censorship of American speech by foreign governments would be a step too far even for them,” Jordan’s spokesman told The Post.
Jordan’s harshly worded missive is part of a larger effort from members of Congress to push back against censorship.
Over the last year, the Judiciary and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government began investigating “to what extent the Executive Branch has coerced or colluded with companies and other intermediaries to censor lawful speech.”
“In furtherance of our oversight, the Select Subcommittee has examined how other governments, including the European Union (EU), have sought to censor speech online,” one of their reports noted.
While members of Congress cannot investigate foreign governments, they can defend American companies and protect them by publicly pushing back against censorship.
