Fact Check: Did the EU Demand Censorship of Trump-Musk Interview? Debunking the Rumors

On August 13, 2024, a YouTube channel posted a material with the title “The European Union demanded that Elon Musk censor Donald Trump’s interview,” which collected 1.7 million views and had the following content:

A few hours ago, an interview with Donald Trump, which he gave to Twitter owner Elon Musk, was published. It all started with a scandal. The European Union issued a special letter demanding that the words of the American ex-president be censored. In case of refusal, Musk was threatened with the most serious legal consequences. However, Trump’s interview was released in full. It did indeed contain a number of harsh statements. Trump called Biden’s decision to withdraw from the presidential race a coup d’état, since the decision was made by no one knows who, but certainly not by the nominal owner of the White House. Trump also announced that the most serious threat to humanity is not global warming, but nuclear warming, and he will do everything to prevent a planetary war. Finally, he said that under Biden, the American president had a low IQ, and under Kamel, this IQ will be zero. Trump also called Putin “an excellent negotiator.” In general, Donald said a lot of things that obviously can’t even be said out loud in the EU.

Our verdict based on the analysis:

Verdict: Incorrect

Reasons:

• The thesis or claim is completely false: information from several sources or the opinions of several experts in a particular field contradict it.
• The cause-and-effect relationships and connections clearly do not exist, as claimed.
• When quoting, essential parts are omitted, rearranged, changed, or incorrectly translated from a foreign language, resulting in a fundamental change in the meaning of what is said.
• The event occurred in material respects differently than stated.

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