The European Union has been accused of unfairly targeting social media platforms that allow dissenting or critical speech. Telegram founder Pavel Durov made the remarks after Elon Musk’s X was fined €120 million for alleged platform rule violations. The fine, imposed by the European Commission, is the first enforcement under the Digital Services Act, which came into force in 2023.
Durov responded to the fine by stating that the EU imposes strict and unrealistic rules on tech companies as a way to punish those that do not comply with quiet censorship demands. He claimed that the EU targets platforms that host inconvenient or dissenting speech, such as Telegram, X, and TikTok, while leaving platforms that algorithmically silence people largely untouched.
The controversy began when Musk claimed that the European Commission had offered X a secret deal to avoid fines in return for censoring certain statements. Musk alleged that if X had quietly censored speech without telling anyone, the EU would not have imposed the fine. The European Commission denied the claim, stating that the fine was unrelated to censorship and was imposed due to X’s violation of the Digital Services Act.
Durov also referred to his own experience with EU regulators, including his detention in France last year, which he claimed was politically motivated. He alleged that French officials had asked him to ban conservative voices in Romania ahead of an election, and that intelligence agents had offered to help with his case if Telegram removed channels tied to Moldova’s election.
The Digital Services Act requires platforms to remove illegal content quickly, but critics argue that it can be used to suppress lawful expression. The law has been a point of contention between EU regulators and tech companies, with some arguing that it infringes on freedom of speech. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized the fine imposed on X, calling it “an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments.”
The EU’s actions have sparked concerns about censorship and the regulation of social media platforms. As the debate continues, it remains to be seen how the Digital Services Act will be enforced and whether it will have a chilling effect on free speech online. The fine imposed on X is a significant development in the ongoing struggle between tech companies and EU regulators, and its implications will be closely watched by observers around the world.
