American billionaire Elon Musk today called the former European commissioner for digitization, the Frenchman Thierry Breton, a European tyrant.
This happened during a new online controversy between the two regarding Musk's support for the German far right.
At the end of December, Musk said in a message on the X network, which he owns, that only the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) can save Germany. His comment drew fierce condemnation in Europe, with Breton at the time calling his statement "foreign interference".
"Man, American 'foreign interference' is the only reason you don't speak German or Russian today," Musk replied, alluding to the American landings in France during World War II.
The debate revived again this Sunday after the intervention of Breton on BFMTV/RMC television.
"Let's keep our cool and apply our laws in Europe when they are at risk of being circumvented. We did it in Romania and we should do it in Germany if necessary," Breton said.
Musk responded today on the X network by pointing out the "stunning absurdity of Thierry Breton, the tyrant of Europe".
Musk, close to US President-elect Donald Trump, who returns to the White House on January 20, regularly criticizes European regulations in the digital sphere and accuses Brussels of censorship. The head of the company Meta, Mark Zuckerberg shares this attitude with him.
In response to Musk's message, Breton also wrote on the X network "Tyrant of Europe. Wait. But not Elon Musk: EU has no mechanism to cancel any elections anywhere in the EU".
The X network was officially brought into question in July for several alleged violations of European regulations. For each of them, if found to be in breach of regulations, the European Commission can impose a fine on Elon Musk of up to six percent of the annual global turnover of all the companies under his control, which is several billion euros.
In December, the European Commission announced that it was opening an investigation against the Chinese social network TikTok, accused of not complying with its obligations and of opening up the possibility of Russian manipulation in the first round of the presidential elections in Romania, which the Constitutional Court of that country overturned.
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