Why Did Musk Condemn the EU as a "Bureaucratic Monster"?
The EU fined Elon Musk's X platform 120 million euros for violating transparency obligations under the Digital Services Act. This is not an ordinary business dispute, but rather a showdown over sovereignty, freedom of speech, and bureaucratic expansion.
Musk responded strongly and directly: he called for the abolition of the EU, returning sovereignty to member states, and pointedly stated that "the EU bureaucracy is slowly suffocating Europe to death." In his view, the EU has evolved into a "bureaucratic monster" with extending tentacles everywhere.
Opponents argue that the fine is irrelevant to the world's richest person, but this misses the key point: this case sets a dangerous precedent. Once the EU bureaucratic machine tastes the flavor of using fines and investigations to force tech giants to submit, its regulatory reach will inevitably expand endlessly. Currently, the EU has launched more than a dozen related investigations, and in the future, it may resort to more severe criminal charges to exert pressure.
The experience of Telegram's founder Pavel Durov provides a terrifying footnote. He was arrested in France and faced serious criminal charges for refusing to ban specific political accounts before elections, and these charges were later proven to be baseless. In response, the French intelligence agency skillfully used explosive terms such as "terrorism" and "child pornography" to justify its pressure, revealing how the bureaucratic system packages censorship as a public safety issue.
More astonishingly, Musk personally revealed that the EU had proposed an "illegal secret deal" to X: if they cooperated with censorship privately without making a fuss, they could avoid the fine. Other platforms accepted it, but X chose to publicly resist.
The outcome of this struggle will define the future of social media. If innovators face personal criminal liability for platform content, the result will be two: either technological innovation is stifled by a chilling effect, or those who uphold freedom end up in prison. Behind Musk's fierce calls lies a deep warning about an increasingly closed digital Europe that replaces dialogue with censorship. Only when the "bureaucratic monster" is restrained can the digital public sphere regain vitality.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1850906661895178/
Statement: The article represents the views of the author alone.