Jackass of the Week: Thierry Breton

Mark Scott, reporting for Politico:

Thierry Breton, who oversees the bloc’s enforcement of new social media rules, sent Musk a letter posted on X that warned the tech mogul about spreading “harmful content,” ahead of Musk’s livestreamed interview with Donald Trump.

The tech billionaire quickly clapped back. “To be honest, I really wanted to respond with this Tropic Thunder meme,” Musk wrote to his almost 200 million followers on X, while posting a curse-laden photo from the 2008 Hollywood blockbuster. “But I would NEVER do something so rude & irresponsible!”

Even the European Commission thinks he was a jackass for sending this letter:

Four separate EU officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Breton’s warning to Musk had surprised many within the Commission. The bloc’s enforcers were still investigating the platform for potential wrongdoing and the EU did not want to be seen as potentially interfering in the U.S. presidential election.

“The EU is not in the business of electoral interference,” said one of those officials. “DSA implementation is too important to be misused by an attention-seeking politician in search of his next big job.”

The Financial Times:

“The timing and the wording of the letter were neither co-ordinated or agreed with the president nor with the [commissioners],” it said. An EU official, who asked not to be named, said: “Thierry has his own mind and way of working and thinking.” [...]

Musk responded to the letter from Breton with a meme from the 2008 film Tropic Thunder, that showed one character yelling: “Take a big step back and literally fuck your own face.”

But, Scott reports, we’ll still have Breton to kick around for the foreseeable future:

Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron backed Breton to serve another term at the European Commission. Breton has been vocal in his eagerness to hold onto his digital files, according to three EU officials with knowledge of the matter.

★ Sunday, 18 August 2024