Elon Musk’s X has become a bête noire of the Brussels bubble, yet we’re still there.
For an X-odus to happen, we need the Commission to lead from the front.
There are many reasons to have beef with Elon Musk and his platform X. The oligarch isn’t just tweeting – he’s actively trying to influence European politics.
He’s endorsed Germany’s far-right AfD, had a cosy chat with its leader, Alice Weidel, and is now attacking election roundtables in Romania – which, by the way, are required by the EU’s law on protecting democracy online, the Digital Services Act (DSA).
X is itself subject to investigation under the DSA over how it deals with disinformation and fact-checking.
And let’s be honest: the platform itself has broken bad (on Monday it was literally broken). Traffic is down. As for the engagement, we all have anecdotes about it, coming mostly from far-right trolls and/or naked lady bots.
We’ve all equally dipped our toes elsewhere, first and foremost the open-source Twitter spin-out Bluesky. That includes the European Commission, which told Euractiv that it uses 15 social media platforms as an institution.
But we’re also all still posting on X, giving it our data, our content, and our attention.
Unlike the Commission, which suspended all spending on X, we EU media are still paying to push our content there. The golden tick next to the profiles of Euractiv, Politico Europe, and Euronews, is called by X “verified organisations”: it essentially means we are paying to be there.
The problem is media outlets can’t abandon X because that’s where the news – and the readers – still are.
The politicians post on X, and more are there than on Bluesky and other platforms. That means the bubble of people who engage on substance, Brussels and national capitals, can more efficiently get their information from X than from elsewhere, so they remain perched. Which means we in the media are stuck too.
Because they are fewer and more important, the first-movers to bring about platform change have to be the political leaders.
Almost the entire college of commissioners has a profile on X. Commissioner for Financial Service Maria Luís Albuquerque is the sole exception.
“The commissioner has a LinkedIn account and it is on this platform that she publishes her activity,” one of her staff told Euractiv when asked about her unique approach.
They further elaborated that Albuquerque “never had accounts on X or Bluesky” and has made no decision about doing so in the future, but doesn’t close off the possibility.
Of the remaining 26, Euractiv found Bluesky profiles for 15.
Among those not on Bluesky is Commissioner for Internal Market Stéphane Séjourné, whose team told Euractiv that they are “considering” a Bluesky account. They also said there is no plan to leave X, believing that “it is still useful to be part of the conversation” there.
The switch to Bluesky depends on the cabinet’s “workload” because the Commission does not centrally manage the accounts.
That did not stop several of the Commissioner cabinets from passing the buck to the central spokespersons’ service to field a response.
On behalf of the Commission, Thomas Regnier reiterated that as an institution new accounts are being opened “including in the Fediverse with Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, to reach out as much as possible to our citizens.”
But he also made it clear that “the individual accounts by commissioners is their prerogative.” So, enough of the passing the buck – individual commissioners, what’s stopping you from leaving X?
Roundup
Tech – The film industry is up in arms against the inclusion of the audiovisual sector in the planned evaluation of the EU’s geo-blocking regulation, expected by the end of the year.
Defence – The United States is responsible for 43% of global weapons exports and Europeans are their number one customer, while Russia’s sales fell by 64% in the last five years.
Agrifood – India and the EU kick off a new round of trade negotiations today, with the aim of finalising what could be Europe’s largest trade deal by the end of the year. But convincing New Delhi to open up its agricultural markets won’t be easy.
Across Europe
France – French satellite company Eutelsat continues to broadcast EU-sanctioned Russian TV and radio channels as it awaits an order from French telecoms regulator Arcom, according to publicly available information confirmed by two Eutelsat officials.
Germany – The Greens announced on Monday that they won’t support the debt-funded investment package proposed by Germany’s likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, leaving him short of a majority.
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