By Obinna Uballa
The European Union on Friday imposed a 120-million-euro ($140-million) fine on Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, for violating transparency rules under the bloc’s sweeping Digital Services Act (DSA), a decision that sets up a direct confrontation with the administration of United States President Donald Trump.
The penalty, the first issued by the EU under the DSA for content-related violations, follows a high-profile investigation widely viewed as a test of Europe’s willingness to rein in Big Tech. Even before the fine became public, U.S. Vice President JD Vance warned Brussels against what he called “attacking American companies through censorship”, prompting a swift rebuttal from EU officials.
“This decision is about the transparency of X,” EU technology commissioner Henna Virkkunen said, stressing that the action had “nothing to do with censorship” and rejecting Vance’s accusations.
X, formerly Twitter, has been under formal DSA investigation since December 2023 and was found in breach of several obligations last year. Regulators say Musk’s overhaul of the platform’s blue checkmark system, which allows users to pay for verification without proving identity, amounts to “deceptive design” that exposes the public to impersonation fraud, scams and manipulation.
The European Commission also faulted X for inadequate transparency on advertising and for restricting access to public data for researchers, both required under the DSA. Additional probes into the platform’s handling of illegal content and disinformation remain ongoing.
Despite having the legal authority to impose fines of up to six percent of a company’s global revenue – and, in Musk’s case, to factor in his wider business empire – Brussels opted for what it called a “proportionate” penalty, AFP reported.
“We are not here to impose the highest fines,” Virkkunen said. “We are here to ensure our digital legislation is enforced. If you comply with our rules, you don’t get a fine – it’s as simple as that.”
The timing of the decision carries geopolitical weight. Since Trump’s return to the White House this year, Washington has increased criticism of EU tech regulations, which U.S. officials describe as hostile to American firms. Vance’s public remarks on X – to which Musk responded, “Much appreciated” – underscored the political tensions surrounding the case.
France’s digital affairs minister, Anne Le Henanff, called the ruling “historic”, saying Europe had shown it could “move from words to action” despite U.S. pressure. Germany’s digital minister, Karsten Wildberger, echoed the sentiment, insisting the bloc’s digital rules “apply to everyone, no matter where they come from.”
In a separate development, the EU announced it had accepted commitments from TikTok to reform aspects of its advertising system. The platform remains under investigation for broader DSA-related issues.
