In a written question addressed to the European Commission, ECR MEPs have sought further insight into former Commissioner Thierry Breton's open letter to Elon Musk on the topic of content moderation.

In a bid to gain further insight, ECR MEPs have approached the European Commission with a written question in relation to Commissioner Thierry Breton’s letter to Elon Musk about content moderation.

The question, titled ‘Political pressure on content moderation and limiting freedom of speech in social media’, was submitted due to concerns that the letter from the former EU Commissioner may have exerted direct pressure on X (formerly Twitter) for stricter content moderation under the pretext of managing harmful content.

“Can you confirm whether Commissioner Breton or any other Commission officials have, at any point, used their political or administrative positions to exert pressure—whether formally or informally—on major social media platforms to enforce specific content moderation actions, even when those actions contradicted the platforms’ own assessments or policies?”, the ECR MEPs inquire.

Breton’s letter, dated 12 August 2024, appeared to be somewhat bold in the view of the ECR members, particularly in light of the recent statement by Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, who expressed regret for censoring specific content after pressure was exerted on him to do so by President Biden’s administration.

The written question was submitted and signed by Kosma Złotowski, Piotr Müller, Bogdan Rzońca, Anna Zalewska, Dominik Tarczyński, Aurelijus Veryga, Adrian-George Axinia, Ivaylo Valchev, Arkadiusz Mularczyk, Michał Dworczyk, Fernand Kartheiser, Nicolas Bay, Tobiasz Bocheński, Jadwiga Wiśniewska, Ondřej Krutílek, Gheorghe Piperea, Charlie Weimers, Beatrice Timgren, Dick Erixon, Laurence Trochu, Sebastian Tynkkynen, Marlena Maląg, Marion Maréchal, Waldemar Buda, and Carlo Fidanza.

The letter from Commissioner Breton was prompted by a live-streamed conversation between Elon Musk and Donald Trump.

LINK to the written question.