The "verbal sparring" between US and EU officials over the EU's penalty against the American social media platform X last week has not subsided over the past weekend, but instead, more US officials have joined in to defend X.

The first spark of this verbal conflict was ignited by the US Vice President Vance. After the news that the EU decided to fine the X platform $140 million for violating social media regulatory rules was released, Vance posted a message on December 5th, condemning the EU for trying to force X to restrict freedom of speech, and called the regulations penalizing X "garbage".

As of Monday of this week, Vance's post had received an impressive 50 million views.

Subsequently, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Brendan Carr, who is responsible for regulating the US internet access, television, and broadcast communication networks, also posted on December 5th, describing the EU's penalty against X as the "decaying EU" being envious of American tech companies.

On December 6th, US Secretary of State Rubio and several members of Congress closely related to the White House continued the intensity of the previous day's criticism against the EU.

Among them, Rubio's post stating that the EU's penalty was an "attack" on all American tech platforms and the American people, and Republican Senator Cruz's post claiming that the EU's penalty was an "attack" on America's "jobs" and "every American's freedom of speech," had received 23.6 million and 20 million views respectively as of the evening of the 8th.

Elon Musk, the owner of the X platform, also joined in on the 6th, mocking the EU by saying that the EU should dissolve and return sovereignty to each member state so that their governments could truly represent their people.

His post had garnered 37.7 million views and 250,000 likes as of the evening of the 8th.

Of course, the EU has also retaliated. However, these counterattacks have only led to more US officials joining in.

For example, during the past Sunday, while on a business trip in Europe, the US Deputy Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Rogers recorded a nearly two-minute video at her residence, where she listed a series of cases that she claimed were instances of the EU (and the UK) "cracking down on freedom of speech."

Although the authenticity of the cases she listed was questioned by the EU, her post had already received over 6 million views as of the 8th.

In response, Time magazine not only joked in its headline that the US government was "going to war" with Europe, but also quoted European sources in the article, stating that these attacks from the US on the EU would further reinforce the perception that the Trump administration is "the enemy of Europe."

Brother Gengzhi

Original: toutiao.com/article/7581523063125082670/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.