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.

212entries
44countries and the EU
147with an official response
35with a fact-check or court finding
Share the tracker
3 entries: Fights with regulators and courts · European UnionClear filters

Confrontations with national regulators, courts and laws over his companies.

2025 1

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.

2024 2

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…

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.