'Made to be a provocation': Kallas fires back at US criticism after EU fines Musk’s X
Photo: EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas stated that all statements coming from the United States about the supposedly "anti-democratic nature" of the European Union are nothing more than a provocation. Washington should be criticizing Russia, not European countries.
Commenting on a series of anti-European statements made by US President Donald Trump and numerous American officials after the EU fined Elon Musk’s social network X, Kallas said these comments could be viewed as a provocation.
"It seems to me it’s made to be a provocation so that we would react… in politics, if you go to debate things that you know are not true, you actually end up accidentally legitimising them," she noted.
According to Kallas, Musk’s avalanche of posts can be ignored, as the EU should be "more self-confident," and the criticism directed at the bloc is "not true".
"We know that this is ridiculous, it’s not true what they are saying about the European Union," she added.
Kallas also advised Washington to stop trying to attack European countries and instead pay attention to Russia. There is no sign that the US criticizes Russia, even though the situation with freedom of speech there is horrible.
"Criticism regarding the liberties here should be aimed at different direction. Russia, perhaps, where dissent is banned, where free media is banned, where political opposition is banned, where X or Twitter, as we know it, is, in fact, also banned," she concluded.
The X fine and US meltdown
The European Commission fined Elon Musk’s social network X for violating EU digital service rules, including the “misleading design” of the blue verification checkmark. The EC issued a fine of €120 million (about $140 million).
In the US, this triggered a full-blown meltdown at all levels. Musk himself called for the EU "abolition", activating numerous bots online to create the illusion of support for his statements.
US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and other pro-Trump senators and politicians also attacked the EU, sometimes resorting to open threats, including that the US might "stop defending Europe."
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick threatened to maintain 50% tariffs on European goods if the fine against Musk’s platform is not canceled. Even President Trump weighed in, claiming that Europe is supposedly "going in some bad direction."
In response to Musk’s hysteria, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski advised the billionaire to “roll off to Mars, where there’s no censorship on Nazi salutes.” Trump, Musk, and American officials also faced harsh criticism from European politicians, commentators, and experts.
