JD Vance suggested the US’s support for NATO could be pulled if Europe tries to regulate Elon Musk’s X as free speech debate rumbles on

“The leader, I forget exactly which official it was within the European Union, but sent Elon this threatening letter that basically said: ‘We’re gonna arrest you if you platform Donald Trump,'” Vance said.

“What America should be saying is, if NATO wants us to continue supporting them and NATO wants us to continue to be a good participant in this military alliance, why don’t you respect American values and respect free speech?” he continued, adding that it was “insane that we would support a military alliance if that military alliance isn’t going to be pro-free speech.”

Vance seemed to be referring to a letter posted on X in August by Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market at the time.

Breton addressed the letter to Musk ahead of the X owner’s much-publicized interview with Trump, warning him against amplifying “harmful content.”

Breton wrote that Musk and X had an obligation to comply with EU law, ensuring freedom of expression and information but making sure that “all proportionate and effective mitigation measures are put in place regarding the amplification of harmful content in connection with relevant events.”

The EU Commission had previously said in July that X did not comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act on advertising transparency and in relation to its verified accounts policy.

Breton said that the commission’s preliminary findings suggested that X’s blue checks “deceive users” and infringe the DSA.

Responding to the findings on his social media platform, Musk said that the European Commission had previously offered X “an illegal secret deal.”

“If we quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us. The other platforms accepted that deal. X did not,” he added.

Despite Musk’s long-running battle for free speech, he has previously suspended the X (then Twitter) accounts of multiple journalists who had been covering or criticizing him.

Business Insider has contacted representatives for Vance for comment.

The US-NATO relationship has been back under the spotlight in the run-up to the US election in November.

Trump has long urged fellow NATO members to increase their defense spending.

In February, the former president even suggested that he would “encourage” Russia to attack non-paying NATO countries, much to the White House’s ire.

NATO defense ministers agreed in 2006 to commit at least 2% of their GDP to defense spending, but a few countries — including Canada and Spain — have fallen below this level.

According to NATO estimates, Poland is set to be the biggest NATO spender in 2024, allocating 4.12% of its GDP. Estonia comes in second place at 3.43%, while the US sits in third at 3.38%.

For its part, NATO has acknowledged that there has been a historic imbalance between US military spending and that of non-US allies.

In July, a post on its site said: “The volume of US defence expenditure represents approximately two thirds of the defence spending of the Alliance as a whole.”

“However, this is not the amount that the United States contributes to the operational running of NATO, which is shared with all Allies according to the principle of common funding,” it added.