The director of an organization funded by leftist billionaire George Soros joined a chorus of voices calling for censorship and more regulation of X after the platform’s owner Elon Musk weighed in on migrant violence in Germany.
The Director of the Soros-funded Global Public Policy Institute, Thorsten Benner, advocated that the European Union and its member states “go after” Musk and crack down on free speech on X. In a Jan. 3 post to his institute’s website, Benner wrote, “If you want to go after Musk then target his business interests: pursue effective regulation of X, organize a consumer boycott against Tesla and pursue massive investments to decrease the European dependence on Starlink." The Global Public Policy Institute received at least $481,790 from George Soros’ Open Society Foundation from 2018-2021.
Benner’s post against Musk was prompted by a Dec. 22 X post and later an op-ed in which Musk endorsed the German political party Alternative for Germany (AfD). Musk also announced that he will do an X space with AfD German Chancellor candidate Alice Weidel. German legislators have recently attempted to ban the AfD. Now Benner is calling for “effective regulation of X.”
The European Union (E.U.) has a draconian censorship law known as the Digital Services Act (DSA), which targets so-called “illegal hate speech” and “disinformation” online. The E.U. has also repeatedly sought to censor speech on large platforms such as Facebook, X and TikTok. For example, former E.U. commissioner Thierry Breton even tried to use the DSA as a threat against Musk to control what topics he discussed with then-presidential candidate Donald Trump during an Aug. 12 X space. The E.U. has continued to harass Musk over his own comments and free speech on X since.
Breton, who recently resigned, also called for the E.U. to go after Musk in a Dec. 21 X post in which he once again called for the enforcement of the draconian Digital Services Act.
After noting the closeness of the German election, Breton lashed out at Musk, saying, “[T]he world's top influencer on X and a potential member of the future U.S. administration — openly supports the far-right AfD party. Isn't this the very definition of foreign interference?” Breton added, “We must end the "double standards" and apply the [Digital Services Act] in Europe.”
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