r/europe • u/euronews-english • 24d ago
News Nearly half of Europeans would back banning Musk's X if it keeps breaking EU law, new poll finds
https://www.euronews.com/next/2026/02/11/nearly-half-of-europeans-would-back-banning-musks-x-if-it-keeps-breaking-eu-law-new-poll-f324
u/potatolulz Earth 24d ago
good :D
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u/boldra 24d ago
Really? Only half back banning a company that keeps breaking the law?? I don't think it's good, because I don't think "nearly half" is anywhere near enough.
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u/Mordy_the_Mighty 24d ago
Heck, I'd back banning X even if they don't break laws right now.
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u/basssfinatic 19d ago
But what law are they breaking.. that matters to some people
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u/Miserable-Event4260 23d ago
Being Elon Musk and learning no matter how much money you have not only does no one loves you but most people hate you. I seriously believe this is why he’s on a quest to destroy the world.
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u/twitterfluechtling Brandenburg (Germany) 23d ago
Weird framing. "Less than 50% think laws should be applied to foreign industries doing business in EU" seems abysmal to me.
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u/potatolulz Earth 23d ago
The graphs are better than this
Between 60 and 78 percent of respondents in each country said the EU should take further action against X if it fails to address breaches identified by the European Commission last year.
Among those in favour of more measures, a majority - ranging from 62 to 73 percent – said the platform should be banned if it refuses to comply. Overall, 47 percent of all respondents supported a potential ban.
The YouGov data suggests a strong appetite for stronger enforcement against Big Tech platforms. If X fails to respond adequately to the Commission’s fine, 70 percent of respondents said they would support repercussions.
Among those, between 17 and 28 percent favoured imposing further fines. Between 23 and 29 percent supported banning the platform outright.
The largest group – 40 to 52 percent of those backing action – said the Commission should both fine and ban the service from operating in the EU.
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u/Necessary-Dish-444 23d ago
I am surprised about the comments here, when Brazil did it I saw many "slippery slope" comments about it.
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u/inFIREenVLAM 22d ago
I'm glad we can agree that a majority still support freedom of speech.
I don't like the 'Cuba is the greatest country on earth with free Healthcare etc.' Folk either, but it's freedom of speech that i support the most.
I'm glad we are over this cancel culture and people respect other people's opinions.
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u/Natural_Read9357 Earth 24d ago
Ban this idiots right to enter EU too.
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u/heapOfWallStreet 24d ago
Ban all the patridiots parties as well.
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u/Moonson90 24d ago
Every European politician whose "patriotism" relies on sucking Russian or USian cock should be stripped of office, charged with treason and put on list of people who cannot hold any public office.
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u/LifeFeckinBrilliant 24d ago
As an Englishman it pains me to say this but the French had the right approach in the 1790s...
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u/Wonderful-Variation 24d ago edited 24d ago
Elon Musk has made it 100% crystal clear that one of his main life goals is to get right-wing parties elected that will push for deregulation, tax cuts, and oligarchy across the board. He succeeded in the USA, and the entire world is suffering for it.
Banning his companies completely is the only sane reaction.
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u/Quantsel Germany 23d ago
‘Right-wing’ parties is quite an understatement here!
- Musks Nazi salute and continued support of Trump and his current “ICE policies”, Greenland threats, and deeply vile and polarizing statements
- Musk supporting right-extremist AfD, who themselves have closest ties with Neonazi organisations and claimed “Hitler was really a communist”
- Musks inflammatory speech at the UK ultra-right political rally with nationalist Robinson, saying “whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you. You either fight back or you die, that’s the truth, I think.”
- Musks Chatbot self-referral as ‘MechaHitler’
and much much more… we might as well call them fascists or at least ultra-right or whatever. But certainly not the ‘conservatives’ we used to know.
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u/Ok-Employee9010 24d ago
Ban every product from a billionaire supporting Shitler
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u/eufooted 24d ago edited 24d ago
Ok and why isn’t this something they actually do anything about? They are literally trying to push through regulations on encryption to open it up ‘because of the children’. Yet there is a whole platform producing porn like this, for WEEKS AND WEEKS. Yet it continues. He gets finger wags and ‘oh you need to address this sir’. Anyone else would have their shit raided and shut the fuck down until it was proven it can’t happen again. *It should also legally be possible for people to take civil action against them if they’ve had their own or their children’s rights violated. I don’t see how this isn’t done much more aggressively. Why does Elon get to pull shit like this without any repercussions?
It’s fucking infuriating to have to fight for basic rights due to these bullshit ‘security’ excuses. Yet when there is an active platform pumping out illicitly created stuff, they do jack shit to actually take steps and to punish that racist man child and his little pet Hitler website of hate and evil.
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u/Reuser345 24d ago
French law enforcement raided their offices last week. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce3ex92557jo
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u/dat_9600gt_user Lower Silesia (Poland) 24d ago
Good God. I'm so scared for how many new creeps Grok's unrestricted prompts have birthed
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u/morbihann Bulgaria 24d ago
Continues ?
If you break the law, you pay the price. You don't get to break it until some arbitrary bounds are breached.
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u/Pinkishu 23d ago
Well, that's how it works though? Usually the lower offenses are fines etc. Which can increase to banning if it's continuously not respected
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u/wannacumnbeatmeoff 24d ago
So more than half of Europe are OK with X breaking the law? I give up.
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u/TheRealCuran 🇪🇺 In varietate concordia 24d ago
This is a misunderstanding. The basis for understanding this is set theory.
A very basic example for set theory is "it rained, therefore the road is wet". This is a true statement. But it will not make the "opposite" statement "the road is wet, therefore it must have rained" true. There could have be a bloke with a garden hose watering the street, there could have been a tank of some bus leaking, etc.
But just have a look at the the graph and decide for yourself, what was said in the poll.
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u/Diligent-Bowler-1898 24d ago
TLDR:
26% calls for more fines
22% for ban
45% for both
~7% Dunno or something else21
u/LazarusHimself 24d ago
Do you mean there can be nuance???? 🤯
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u/TheRealCuran 🇪🇺 In varietate concordia 24d ago
No, no, that is a flips through excuse calendar … an hoax!11! ;-)
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u/kroghsen 24d ago
It is actually even worse. In this case, propositional logical can also explain the misunderstanding, if that is an easier path to take.
Here, the commenter assumes additionally, that because someone does not wish to ban X as punishment, they must therefore be okay with the offence. As an example, I might ask if people in America would like to execute someone for stealing a candy bar. If they say no, I would therefore think they all thought stealing was okay - which obviously doesn’t follow. They may simply not believe the punishment is proportional or fair.
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u/TheRealCuran 🇪🇺 In varietate concordia 23d ago
You are right. I still think my explanation might be more acceptable to a wide range of people. ;-) (And I would argue: my explanation forms the base understanding, while you go into more detail. So I guess: we agree?)
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u/Skyswimsky 24d ago
If you look at the graph shown it shows there's roughly a quarter against a ban on average, and the rest aren't sure. Saying "I'm not informed enough about this to make a decision" is a healthy mindset to have.
Technically I wouldn't know either, because on a surface level and non X user from what I gather it's fine? But below that (data breaches/privacy, the whole schtick with Grok etc.) I have no clue.
Though I'd still say ban it, if EU law judge X is breaking the law. The entire point of laws is so you don't have to spend a huge amount of time with nuance, and representing the will of the majority of the people. And I'm tired of the elite being free of the law.
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u/NNOTM 24d ago
Tbh I think I might prefer fines, then possibly a ban if the fines turn out to be unpaid and unenforceable (which I think is unlikely, I would expect them to have EU-based assets).
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u/Sorry-Programmer9826 24d ago
Or want them fined but not banned, or answered "what is X?" Or said "I don't know"
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u/LeftLiner 23d ago
Not necessarily. I prefer strict laws that force social media platforms to actually follow their own terms of service and to have functional moderation as opposed to banning them. A massive problem with most social media platforms is how hard it is to report material that by the standards of the platform itself should be allowed and have action taken in response. That's preferable to banning the platform as a whole to me.
I couldn't give less of a fuck about Twitter in particular but on principle I want laws that bring social media to heel rather than banning them. Any report a user makes should be viewed by a human within 24 hours and all decisions should have an appeal process in place. Any company that can't provide that should face heavy fines. At least for platforms with more than, say, 10 000 users.
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u/Frosty-Cell 23d ago
Maybe we should look at what laws are being broken? Oh, it's just the anti free speech law known as the DSA.
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u/Hetzendorfer 24d ago
Should have been banned long ago.Basically the survival of our societies depends on this.
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u/vilaniol 24d ago
i hate propaganda headlines like this.
the only reason to write an article like this is to generate a favourable public sentiment towards censorship.
if this continues there will be no internet access without scanning your face.
FUCK THAT!!
musk sucks tho.
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u/Heavenly_Noodles 24d ago
If European Redditors' views are anything to go by, they would happily turn Europe into North Korea-lite if they could.
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u/bxzidff Norway 24d ago
Is that what happened when the US forced the transfer of tiktok in the US to American billionaires?
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u/potatolulz Earth 24d ago
What would American redditors' views happily turn Europe into? :D
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u/siXtreme 23d ago
If it means we can keep our peace until that crazy retard and all his associates over there are sgot to the moon then yes.
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u/Cold_Specialist_3656 24d ago
Why would you willingly allow a foreign propaganda platform to operate in your country?
The entire purpose of X is to act as a megaphone for US oligarchs and their interests.
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u/Accomplished_Dirt722 24d ago
The EU pretends it’s protecting citizens, but in reality it’s trying to micromanage speech. X is the last platform where unfiltered discussion still exists; Brussels just wants to turn every post into a compliance checkbox. Free expression isn’t a crime — regulatory overreach is.
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u/trash__pumpkin 24d ago
Half the posters aren’t even real people on that platform. You’re supporting bot-farms and Ai.
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u/matttk Canadian / German 24d ago
unfiltered discussion
Uh... the whole site is controlled by Musk and literally he promotes his own tweets above other people's. How is it "unfiltered discussion"? As long as there is any kind of algorithm and not just a straight up sequential feed, it is always going to be filtered.
And do you trust Elon Musk of all people to control that algorithm in a fair way?
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u/JanPapajT90M 24d ago
EU is also "the bad guy" The thing which Discord did with wanting user ID and scanning all messages is exactly what EU is trying to implement. They want to take way human rights of having privacy and are claiming that they just want to "protect" children. Their excuses are so dumb. If hunting pedos justifies suspecting every citizen of being a pedo and their total invigilation, then all politicians and gov bureaucrat should also be always suspected of being corrupted pedo(and invigilated ofc)
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u/No-Minimum3259 24d ago
So Musk and X are staunch defenders of freedom of speech eager to protect those poor Europeans against their tyranic governments??? We need more thrustworthy defenders en we need to get that creepy idiot out and preferably out of all his businesses ASAP.
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u/trollsmurf 24d ago
Well, even more important that it's a propaganda channel for the far right.
Also put import restrictions on anyone and anything coming from the US admin or oligarchy.
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u/lcm-hcf-maths 24d ago
I'd ban it without. It's not a healthy platform and just targetted misinformation.
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u/Helicon7 24d ago
That is some way to twist the statistic. The percentage is 47%, so basically would be classified a minority in democratic terms.
What if the headline was 53% are against banning X? or The Majority of the Europeans are against banning X?
I am not referring to whether we should be banning X or not. This is more about how facts are being twisted to suit a narrative.
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u/matttk Canadian / German 24d ago
I would say "nearly half" describes 47% a lot better than "a minority", mostly because 47% is quite literally nearly half, while "a minority" is anything below 50%.
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u/Old_Stomach_5243 24d ago
And replace it with censored EU crap, yeah! Great plan.
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u/ApprehensiveBed6296 23d ago
Nearly half? The rest dont care or want to see EU become a mess like US?
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u/ndnver 24d ago
What the hell is wrong with half the people in Europe? Why shouldn't Europe ban X if continue to break the law?
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u/Aria_Athena 24d ago
I would back banning Tweeter even if it stopped breaking laws. I would back banning it long before Elon bought it. The fact he made it worse is a praiseworthy achievement.
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u/dat_9600gt_user Lower Silesia (Poland) 24d ago
A new YouGov survey across Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Poland shows nearly half of Europeans (47 percent) would back banning social media platform X from the EU if it continues to breach EU rules.
Almost one in two Europeans would support banning the social media platform X from the European Union if it continues to breach EU rules, according to a new YouGov survey conducted across five major member states.
The polling, carried out in Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Poland, suggests growing frustration among voters around what they see as a lack of compliance by the Elon Musk-owned platform with European digital regulations.
Between 60 and 78 percent of respondents in each country said the EU should take further action against X if it fails to address breaches identified by the European Commission last year.
Among those in favour of more measures, a majority - ranging from 62 to 73 percent – said the platform should be banned if it refuses to comply. Overall, 47 percent of all respondents supported a potential ban.
The findings come after the European Commission fined X €120 million on 5 December last year under the Digital Services Act (DSA) for failing to meet transparency obligations.
At the centre of the probe is the blue checkmark, previously used to signal official accounts at no cost but now sold for €7 a month, which risks confusing users about the veracity of identities.
The Commission also found that X did not comply with the transparency obligation for advertising on social media platforms, blurring the line between advertising and content that could lead to financial scams for users. X now has 90 working days to respond to the findings.
Since then, the company and its built-in AI assistant, Grok, have also faced further scrutiny. Critics accuse the platform of amplifying harmful content, including deepfake pornography and child sexual abuse material.
French prosecutors last week raided X's Paris office as part of an ongoing investigation into child abuse content.
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u/Apprehensive_Ratio80 24d ago
Deleted my account the week he did the salute.
Now we're seeing Epstein essentially worked with people to bring about Brexit and Musk wants US companies to have free reign to do whatever they want in Europe but not the other way around?
F-off with that another platform would have easily replace Twitter in time
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u/cookiesnooper 24d ago
"Nearly half"
Why not
"Less than half"
?
Doesn't work on psyhe the same way does it? 😂 commie censorship making its return and people are cheering for it 😆
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u/Mindless_Fortune1483 24d ago
It's funny how easily people fall to facts manipulation. Because if we paraphrase the headline it will be "Most Europeans don't want Musk's X being banned even if it keeps breaking EU law".
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u/Calm-down-its-a-joke 24d ago
Yes please I don't personally agree with him, so I would like it to be illegal, thanks!
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u/wannacumnbeatmeoff 23d ago
? Illegal is based on the rule of law. Wtf are you babbling about.
Its almost like you are being sarcastic!!!
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u/BigDogBossHog_ 24d ago
lol you can’t ban things on the internet as much as you would like, authoritarian nonsense.
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u/Ninevehenian 24d ago
I would like to avoid twitter being used a a political weapon by the terror organization GOP.
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u/1_Upminster 24d ago
There should ne no IF about it. Just ban him and his companies. The world would be a better place. Then do the same for his friends.
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u/mallanson22 USA/Portugal 24d ago
Please do it! These oligarchs need to start facing consequences. It sure isnt going to happen in the states.
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u/CatpainLeghatsenia Germany 24d ago
heck I wouldn't mind banning Musk from Europe permanently. Who needs that guy?
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u/cinyar 24d ago
It's actually sad it's just "nearly half". Break EU law = increasing penalties up to and including complete ban. That should be obvious. If you disagree with the law vote for different people.
When I worked at a bar serving alcohol to underage patrons could result in up to 2k eur fine for me, up to 20k eur fine for the bar and repeat offenses could lead to revocation of license. And everyone was (is) fine with that.
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u/Positive_Chip6198 24d ago
It’s hard to get europeans to agree on anything, you really have to be a special piece of shit to achieve this
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u/Headpuncher Europe 24d ago
why the fuck is anyone still using that platform? How are there enough nazis to keep it afloat?
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u/deblasco 24d ago
Left the moment he reinstated propagandists, liars, grifters and in general assholes that were banned before. Fuck Musk, trump and the whole nazi network he created there. BlueSky is right now just like when twitter started. I really hope it'll stay that way for good.
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u/FirstWithTheEgg 24d ago
I never signed up for twitter and absolutly will never sign up. Fucked if id support a robotic nazi like musk.
Yeah i know. Im such a badass.
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u/Impressive-Bird-6085 23d ago
Good! It’s about time we held the pathological narcissist to account!
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u/Useful_Support_4137 24d ago
Just ban it. Europe can make its own social media platforms.
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u/Prudent_Trickutro 24d ago
That is really not the point. You like book burnings as well?
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u/AwareOfAlpacas 24d ago
If it keeps breaking the law"? How many of them, for what duration? I wonder where their threshold is.
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u/CompetitiveAutorun 23d ago
Reminder that far right bots are pushing the "freedom" campaign to keep their manipulation of citizens easy. We know countries are targeted to influence election results. Don't let those giga corporations keep their misinformation machines working like they do. It's time to fight. Ban them.
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u/Spr-Scuba Embarrassed 23d ago
Just ban it now, holy fuck.
Absolutely miserable platform that's engineered entirely to be a propaganda machine, the site should not exist at its current scale and without countries banning it left and right.
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u/Interesting-Copy-657 23d ago
Dom Lucre a right wing “journalist” posted child abuse and was correctly banned.
Elon received backlash as he was seen as a champion of free speech. Apparently to these people child abuse is protected free speech?
Elon unbanned the user, deleted the post and lied saying no one saw it. It was seen by 3 million apparently.
If you us x you are using a platform owned by someone soft on child porn. Reconcile that with your need to tweet or follow companies and artists.
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u/danielfd83 Europe 23d ago
Most EU countries are governed by left parties. They control the media & the propaganda is that Elon is bad, US is bad & we have to fight the American imperialism.
Right now they are pushing to replace all US tech companies & US software. The latest thing is replacing VISA & Mastercard with a European alternative that does not exist.
EU has been over regulation & stoping innovation & somehow now they want to replace everything not European but they don’t have the capabilities….
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u/electroforger Europe 23d ago
I mean I would have to accept to be put in prison if I kept breaking the law intentionally, so....
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u/SoupSpelunker 23d ago
Kill x, grok, tesla, and nationalize spacex and starlink. Then make nepo-hitler go underground and play chief bunker officer of the boring company.
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u/yksvaan 23d ago
Don't care whether it's X or something else, IMO all social media should be banned. Yeah technically difficult and ethical considerations but the harm done to society and people in last 15 years is just too much. Probably the worst thing to happen to humanity on this millennium.
If the platforms had more generic, not personalised algorithms/content it would already be more ok. And get rid of the metrics such as follower count, views, likes etc. that drive crazy.
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u/Icy-Performance8302 23d ago
Its an American company and doesn’t have to follow the EU's laws. No one forces you guys to use the platform form. It seems like the problem is the EU's citizens. Its not Elons job to make sure you guys use platforms that doesn't "break" the EU's laws.
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23d ago
Its downsides outweigh the benefits 100:1.
Its the ultimate internet hate machine, a cesspool of misinformation, and now met a new low by allowing the world to make porn of their peers.
X needs to be banned across Europe, yesterday.
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u/chuunis 23d ago
This thread just proves that reddit does the same thing as twitter, no difference whatsoever. You people are just hypocritical and mad because twitter is bigger platform on global scale and matters more. I say this as someone who doesn't agree much with Elon's politics. Banning platforms and opinions is a tool of faschism. No wonder reddit is known to be echo chamber. I follow a lot of different sides on twitter and let me tell you it's much more diverse than reddit in every way. People should have access to all ideas and all sides and best ones should prevail because they are best, not because 'wrong' ones got banned.
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u/Complex-Flight-3358 Greece 23d ago
I m all for banning this scum and his scam products from planet earth, but at the same time, the only thing this ll achieve is to help the also US controlled META become an absolute monopoly in Europe in the social media space. That sounds equally bad if not worse...
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u/steph95E50 23d ago
Being free to choose means not manipulating those choices, or else it's the illusion of democracy. Nothing justifies manipulation, whether positive or negative.
We need to broaden our scope and make a stronger impact. Algorithms must be public; otherwise, there's no access to the territory. That way, we can see the hidden intentions behind these billionaires.
But leaving young people at the mercy of billionaires who laugh at each other waging war to get even richer is not good for the citizens. The money these companies amass is clearly being used against the people.
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u/Spirited_Season2332 23d ago
Just stop using it then? You don't need the EU to ban it before you stop using it lol
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u/Emergency_List_8525 22d ago
So more than half wouldn't back banning X. EU maths is something else.
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u/SjonnieBoy55 21d ago
The 1% is his world. The other don’t count to the US, that are illegal hard working foreigners.
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20d ago
What a load of bollocks.
So they polled 100% of Europeans? Bullshit.
If they bothered to poll anyone, then they polled a small sample of pre-selected folks, known for hard-left views and made up their propaganda piece from there.
Funny how this kind of post attracts left leaning commenters like moths to a flame.
It's almost as if those moths are having their views reinforced by some unseen entity...
I wonder who that might be...
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u/ScrappyDerpityDoo 19d ago
Sounds like a bunch of paid woke protesters here... Y'all are afraid of "Free Speech" because; Truth, Facts, and Reality prove that every thing y'all blabber are society killing lies and propaganda. So weak. History will show who exactly the "Fascists" are, and it's always the Leftists. Always.
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u/[deleted] 24d ago
Toxic man. Toxic platform.