Raging at EU fines, Elon Musk pretends to be pro-free speech again

As we’ve reported before, Elon Musk is not the free speech absolutist he claims to be. He does like using ‘free speech’ as a defence, however, which is exactly what he’s doing right now:

The “EU” imposed this crazy fine not just on @X, but also on me personally, which is even more insane!

Therefore, it would seem appropriate to apply our response not just to the EU, but also to the individuals who took this action against me. https://t.co/n2LE0eZiI7

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 5, 2025

Fined

As reported by the BBC, the EU is fining Musk because their pay-for-play blue check scheme is exposing users to scammers and fraudsters. Additionally, Musk’s X/Twitter platform is failing to provide sufficient transparency around its adverts, which is another big no no for the EU.

You’ll note neither of these things have anything to do with free speech.

The US government, however, is arguing otherwise:

Rubio is completely twisting the facts.
The EU fine has nothing to do with “censoring Americans” or going after U.S. citizens. The penalty was issued because X broke basic transparency and consumer-protection rules: selling misleading blue checkmarks, hiding required advertising… pic.twitter.com/LU56RxTGKl

— Pete (@splendid_pete) December 5, 2025

Peter Thiel’s lapdog JD Vance doesn’t get a say over EU regulation pic.twitter.com/YPh5pq3fHf

— Joni Askola (@joni_askola) December 4, 2025

Do you know who does believe in censoring free speech on behalf of government institutions? That’s right, Elon Musk, as Al Jazeera reported:

Twitter complied at least partially with almost every government request to take down content after Elon Musk, a self-described free speech absolutist, took over the platform, Twitter’s self-reported data shows.

The social media giant fully or partially complied with 98.8 percent of takedown requests it received from October 27, the date of Musk’s takeover, to April 13, including hundreds of requests from Turkey and India, which have faced criticism for silencing critics.

We suspect he doesn’t speak out against Turkey and India because he knows they won’t humour his petulance; they’ll just block his website.

Other ways Musk has (or would like to) restrict freedom of speech include:

• Using Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) to prevent employees, partners, and government officials from speaking out.
• Arguing it should be illegal to call a ‘non-violent’ person a Nazi.
• Suspending left-leaning journalists and commentators on Twitter.
• Suing Media Matters over a report which covered hate speech on his platform.

Despite all this, Musk is still saying stuff like this:

Surefire way to figure out who the bad guys are is by looking who wants to restrict freedom of speech https://t.co/E8E2nZldWc

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 6, 2025

You restrict freedom of speech, Elon; you do.

By your own logic, you are the bad guy – something you’d be able to figure out yourself if you weren’t experiencing the world’s longest temper tantrum:

I mean it. Not kidding. https://t.co/dUpYQetR22

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 6, 2025

Featured image via EU