In an essay from just a few days ago (“GARM, Globalism, and Geopolitics”), I discussed the two-front “War” (his words) that Elon Musk has decided to engage in. One front being the Yaccarino/”X” lawsuit against GARM for intentional advertising revenue damages done to “X”. The other front involves the European Union, and specifically one wealthy Anglo-Saxon EU “Commissioner” (an appointed post) named Thierry Breton. Mr. Breton seems to enjoy prodding and provoking Mr. Musk on his own platform, which is unusual for Brussels bureaucratic gnomes.

Below was Breton’s initial strike, in which he announced an investigation by the bureaucracy he leads and its newly created “Digital Services Act” or DSA.

There is the appearance that the DSA was specifically created as a way for the EU to financially damage and eventually shut down “X”. As of this date, I am only aware of the DSA being applied to one EU-designated “Very Large Online Platforms (VLOP)”. Perhaps this is because the others just rolled over and complied with the demands of Breton and his censorship thought police.

In a turn of affairs surprising absolutely no-one, Breton and his Brussels digital police completed their investigation and…

Strike 2. On 12 July 2024, the EU completed its initial investigation concerning “X” breaches of the DSA, and notified “X” of the findings.

The Commission has issued preliminary findings of non-compliance on three grievances:

• First, X designs and operates its interface for the “verified accounts” with the “Blue checkmark” in a way that does not correspond to industry practice and deceives users. Since anyone can subscribe to obtain such a “verified” status, it negatively affects users' ability to make free and informed decisions about the authenticity of the accounts and the content they interact with. There is evidence of motivated malicious actors abusing the “verified account” to deceive users.

• Second, X does not comply with the required transparency on advertising, as it does not provide a searchable and reliable advertisement repository, but instead put in place design features and access barriers that make the repository unfit for its transparency purpose towards users. In particular, the design does not allow for the required supervision and research into emerging risks brought about by the distribution of advertising online.

• Third, X fails to provide access to its public data to researchers in line with the conditions set out in the DSA. In particular, X prohibits eligible researchers from independently accessing its public data, such as by scraping, as stated in its terms of service. In addition, X's process to grant eligible researchers access to its application programming interface (API) appears to dissuade researchers from carrying out their research projects or leave them with no other choice than to pay disproportionally high fees.

Heinous corporate sins, I think all can agree <sarcasm>.

Unbowed and unrepentant, Musk and “X” proceeded to announce that Donald Trump, the King of the mean tweet (a Trump registered trademark), will return to posting on “X”, and, to add insult to injury, Elon Musk will personally interview Trump and broadcast the interview live via the Trump “X” account.

Strike 3?

This seems to have triggered Thierry Breton into taking another direct online attack on Musk and “X.” Breton posted a vaguely threatening but unsigned letter on “X,” apparently (specifically tagging Musk) seeking to interfere in the US Election. Carbon copy to X CEO Linda Yaccarino.

So, is this all just more Kabuki theater? The truth is that I have no conclusions, but lots of hypotheses.

Take a moment to think about the exchange that just happened between @ThierryBreton and @elonmusk . This was a #PsyWar skirmish. Part of a larger war, to use Elon’s own words. Is Musk being trolled? Is Thierry Breton acting unilaterally or with approval of his supervisors? Directly confronting Musk has just increased Breton’s profile and status. Second time he did this. This is strategic behavior.

What do you think is going on here?

I posed the question to my almost 1.2M followers on X (of course), and received a huge range of hypotheses in response. You can find those responses (and my replies) here.

And then I asked the same question to the official “X” AI “Grok”.

“The exchange between Thierry Breton and Elon Musk does appear to represent a strategic maneuver in a larger "PsyWar," with Breton's actions potentially aimed at raising his profile and status by directly confronting Musk. This suggests a calculated move by Breton rather than a spontaneous reaction.”

What do you think is going on here?

AS for me, I have to go to a dinner here in the heart of Silicon Valley with a group of conservatives, and I will miss the big event. Please watch for me, and let me know what you think about all of this.

Please let me know your thoughts on the latest Musk/EU skirmish in the comments!

If you would like these blog posts to appear in your email stream,

please sign up to