Top German Paper Blasts EU’s Censorious Attempt to Save Freedom by Killing Freedom

The “primal fear” among the European left of dissent has driven them to believe Elon Musk and X are actually a greater threat to democracy than the “totalitarian censorship” being enacted in the name of freedom, the lead reporter in a top European newspaper writes.

The European Union is developing a pretty taste for paradox in its quest to save freedom by killing freedom, so says the leader editorial in Germany’s newspaper of record Die Welt in response to the Commission’s petulant letter addressed to Elon Musk on Monday night.

Published shortly before Musk’s big interview with President Trump on Monday night, the letter from European Commissioner Thierry Breton, the bloc’s would-be censor-in-chief demanded X/Twitter deploy “mitigation measures” against “harmful content” that could “generate detrimental effects on civic discourse and public security” in Europe.

Breton warned of repercussions if Elon Musk didn’t fall into line with his demands.

Mr Musk responded with characteristic disdain, and enjoying his American freedom of expression to its fullest limits, telling Commissioner Breton — in meme form — to go fuck himself.

Anna Schneider, the chief reporter for Die Welt had Breton’s “totalitarian” bid in her sights on Tuesday with a sardonic take, noting that “despite the fact that the European Union wants to stand for values ​​such as democracy, the rule of law, human rights and, last but not least, freedom” it somehow ends up treating a law ” to abolish freedom of expression… as a masterpiece”.

The Union finds itself in the position of being “against freedom for freedom or something like that,”  she quipped. The paradoxical logic of Breton as illustrated by Schneider is immediately redolent of the Colonel Blimp character created by cartoonist David Low, who satirised the attitudes of the British ruling class of the time, noting the attitude that colonised people needed the British Empire to protect them from massacres, and if they didn’t like it, they’d have to be shot to teach them a lesson.

Freedom of speech should not be about whether you agree or disagree with Donald Trump and Elon Musk, leader-writer Schneider, who is known for arguing from a classical liberal, pro-freedom of speech position, said, but that position has been crowded out by a left-wing crackdown on dissent.

She wrote: “These freedom-loving minds are united by their primal fear of everything that is not left-wing, and this apparently leads to adventurous fantasies such as the idea that Elon Musk, his tweets or generally the X platform and what can be said there represent a greater threat to democracy than totalitarian censorship that is being enshrined in European law.”

Schneider also asked, rhetorically, of Breton whether “anyone could really want this man to be authorised to speak on behalf of the EU,”  somewhat prefiguring a dramatic turn in the story today that actually it appears he was not. As reported, Breton’s remarkable letter appears to have been published without consulting Breton’s superiors at the European Commission first, who have responded with the negative coverage it has gained their organisation with disdain.

One unnamed EU official is reported to have said, in a withering put-down to Breton: “The EU is not in the business of electoral interference… DSA implementation is too important to be misused by an attention-seeking politician in search of his next big job.”