Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg pushed Facebook and Instagram into a new era when he announced that they would follow in the footsteps of Elon Musk's X, doing away with fact-checkers and other content moderation in favor of community notes and freer speech.

Now Musk's escalating criticism and mocking of European leaders and governments, which he has done repeatedly via X, the social media platform he owns, has sparked a backlash from European governments amid increasing calls for regulatory action in Europe against X.