European potentates have gone to war with Elon Musk and his X platform, sensing that the liberation of political speech could spell electoral doom for them. Leading that fight is Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who is seeking to muzzle X for the criticism of his proposed amnesty of illegal immigrants.

Sanchez announced last week the legalization of some 500,000 illegal immigrants, though at least one Spanish commentator told me that it was actually closer to a million. She showed me the numbers to back the allegation. His slavish state television immediately cast the measure as “moderate.”

With television and newspapers highlighting the anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement riots in Minneapolis 24/7, and giving only the view that Americans have spontaneously fought President Donald Trump’s policies in the streets, the media cast Sanchez’s amnesty as the compassionate riposte to Trump.

But it did not take long for a leader of Podemos, one of the parties supporting Sanchez in the legislature, to let the cat out of the bag. Irene Montero, the party’s top political strategist and a former minister of equality for Sanchez, told a rally in Zaragoza that the amnesty was intended to win votes.

>>> Europe’s Center-Right Turns Censorious Against America

“I am asking migrants and racialized people to please not leave us alone with so many fascists! Yes, of course we want them to vote, of course!” a very animated Montero shouted at the crowd last Saturday. 

“We have obtained papers for you, regularization [amnesty], and now we are going to demand that you be given citizenship so that you be able to vote,” Montero, who was speaking the truth, added. Sanchez announced his intention to legalize these illegal immigrations to mollify Podemos, which has long demanded amnesty as the price for its support.

Then came the kicker, as Montero, swept up in her own fervor, shouted, “Yes, hopefully we’ll have replacement theory. Hopefully, we’ll be able to sweep away from this country all these fascists and racist people, with immigrants and working people. Yes, of course, I want replacement. I want the replacement of fascists and racist people.”

It did not take long in the age of X for people outside of Spain to notice what was going on. Because I was there, I posted an entire thread. Ian Miles Cheong posted, “It’s not even a secret anymore. By legalizing 500,000 illegals under the guise of defeating the far-right, Pedro Sánchez is essentially dropping the mask. This is electoral engineering.” Musk saw that and reposted with one word: “Wow!” Virality ensued.

But one can’t enact a successful replacement if everyone notices. So Sanchez is working to make sure that X becomes as house-trained and domesticated as the domestic news channels. The prime minister used an address he had scheduled this week at the Dubai World Government Summit to unload on X and Musk.

“Just last week, the owner of X, a migrant himself, used his personal account to amplify this information about the sovereign decision by my government, the regularization of 500,000 migrants that live, work and contribute to the success of our country,” Sanchez said, as if amplifying news, i.e., reporting it, should be a crime.

After listing many supposed crimes by X and other social media platforms, Sanchez said, “Some may say that if we don’t like social media platforms, we can simply leave them. That no one is forced to use X or TikTok. … But we know that our children and many citizens do not have that choice. Social media has become an integral part of their lives, of their reality. So if we want to protect them, there’s only one thing we can do. Take back control.”

Sanchez then listed exactly what steps his government will present to Parliament; few had anything to do with sparing minors the harms of online activity.

“Next week, my government will implement the following actions,” he said.

The first was one of the most draconian: hold platform executives legally accountable and open to criminal liability for failing to remove illegal or hateful content. Second was the turning of “algorithmic manipulation, and amplification of illegal content, into a new criminal offense.” So X, Facebook, etc., will cease to be private entities.

Third, the Spanish government will pretend to “track, quantify, and expose how digital platforms feed division and amplify hate.” In other words, you have to give information exactly how Sanchez’s minions on Spanish media would. Add your own critical take, however, and you are criminally liable.

>>> Europe Should Follow U.S.’s Lead and Defund State Media

The fourth was the only one that really addressed minors: Spain will ban access to social media for those under 16 years old. Draconian perhaps, but nothing tyrannical there. The fifth and last one was, however, that Spain will investigate Grok, TikTok, and Instagram for possible infringements and prosecute when necessary. Spain, he added, will defend Spaniards “from the digital Wild West.”

In other words, if these proposals become law, Spain will cease to be truly free.

In reality, it is not just leftist forces that want Musk out of Europe. He has generated opponents across the spectrum.

But Spain’s Left is and has always been one of the most retrograde in the West. Sometimes it seems like the same group that was burning down convents, raping nuns, and assassinating political opponents right before the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War has been brought forward by a time machine. There are no longer anti-clerical mobs going around Spanish cities and towns, torch in hand, but they talk the same way.

Sanchez is more of a rank opportunist than a hardcore ideologue. His party is well behind in the polls, and he must face the voters next year. The only way to survive, he seems to be saying, is to carry out what his 1930s predecessors were prevented from doing.