Elon Musk has a problem with he EU. They’re holding him accountable for all the disinformation that Twitter is spreading. Along with the fact that he’s not interested in doing anything about it. So according to this story, his solution is going to be to block EU citizens from seeing Twitter:
In response to this new regulation, Elon Musk, the controversial tech mogul at the helm of X, is reported to be considering a dramatic move. Musk could remove the X platform entirely from Europe, or alternatively block European users from accessing the platform. It’s a clear sign of the tension between the platform’s libertarian ethos and the EU’s desire for regulation. The outcome of this standoff will set an important precedent for how digital platforms are governed in the future.
Elon clearly thinks that the has the upper hand here. As in Twitter is so big and so powerful that the EU will bend to his will if he threatens to keep the 27 nation bloc from seeing Tweets. But he’s wrong. Facebook a while back tried a similar tactic to strong-arm the EU, and when Europe called the company on that move Facebook backtracked. I can see a similar scenario playing out here. But there’s another scenario, Elon is actually trying to dodge EU rules at any cost. Even if it means taking money out of his own pocket to do so. Because you have to assume that pulling out of the EU is going to cost him big. And the fact that Twitter is bleeding money clearly doesn’t factor into his decision making.
Either way, my thinking is that the EU may just be happy enough to see the back of him and let Twitter’s downward spiral into oblivion continue as the demise of Twitter would solve the disinformation problem on the platform. And they would not be alone in hoping that he does something that speed up the death of Twitter.