Starlink Watch

The Musk tracker

Elon Musk and governments worldwide

A sourced record of 212 statements and actions by Elon Musk and his companies since 2022: interventions in the politics, governments, courts and regulation of 43 countries and the European Union, threats and legal action against critics, and the use of market power against competitors. Each entry sets out what he said or did, the background, the response and what happened next.

Compiled by Starlink Watch editors · Updated

212entries
44countries and the EU
147with an official response
35with a fact-check or court finding
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4 entries: European UnionClear filters

2025 1

Regulators and courts

After €120m DSA fine on X, Musk says the EU 'should be abolished'

After the European Commission fined X, Musk wrote that The EU should be abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries and described it as a tyrannical, unelected bureaucracy. He also reposted an image equating the EU flag with a Nazi flag.

Response: Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen said such practices have no place online in the EU; US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the fine an attack on American platforms.

European Union2 sources

2024 2

Regulators and courts

Musk answers EU Commissioner Breton's DSA warning before Trump interview with an expletive film meme

After Commissioner Thierry Breton published a letter warning Musk against amplifying harmful content during his live X interview with Donald Trump, Musk replied on X with a meme from the film Tropic Thunder containing explicit language.

Response: The Commission told the Financial Times the letter's timing and wording were not coordinated or agreed with President Ursula von der Leyen; X CEO Linda Yaccarino said it treated EU citizens as 'incap…

European Union2 sources
Regulators and courtsPost

Musk says European Commission offered X an 'illegal secret deal' after preliminary DSA breach findings

After the Commission issued preliminary findings that X breached the Digital Services Act, Musk wrote that it had offered X an illegal secret deal to quietly censor speech in exchange for no fine, and said X looked forward to a very public battle in court.

Response: Commissioner Thierry Breton wrote on X: There has never been — and will never be — any secret deal. With anyone, adding that the DSA lets platforms offer commitments to settle a case.

European Union2 sources

2022 1

Threats

Twitter suspends journalists from CNN, NYT and Washington Post who covered jet-tracking ban; UN and EU object

Twitter suspended the accounts of several reporters, including CNN's Donie O'Sullivan, The New York Times' Ryan Mac, The Washington Post's Drew Harwell and The Intercept's Micah Lee, after coverage of the @elonjet ban. Musk wrote that "doxxing my real-time lo…

Response: A spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres called the suspensions a dangerous precedent. EU Commissioner Věra Jourová warned of possible sanctions under EU law, saying "There are red lin…

United StatesEuropean Union2 sources