Europe Asia News

The European Commission imposed the decision on X on Friday following a two-year investigation conducted under the Digital Services Act (DSA), adopted in 2022 to regulate online platforms. After the ruling, Musk replied to a Commission post on X by writing: “Nonsense.”

Escalating his criticism of the EU, Musk wrote in a post on X: “The EU should be abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries so governments can better represent their people.” His comments came at a time when senior U.S. officials were also intensifying their objections to the decision.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X on Friday that the fine was “an attack by foreign governments on all American tech platforms and the American people.”

U.S. Ambassador to the EU Andrew Puzder said in a post on X on Saturday: “Today’s excessive fine of 120 million euros is the result of the EU’s overregulation aimed at undermining American innovation,” adding: “The Trump administration has made it clear: We oppose censorship and we will push back against burdensome regulations targeting U.S. companies abroad. We expect the EU to engage in fair, open and reciprocal trade — nothing less.”

Last week, the Commission stated that the violations involved “the misleading design of the blue checkmark, the lack of transparency in the advertising repository, and the failure to provide researchers access to public data.” Executive Vice-President for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy Henna Virkkunen said: “With the first non-compliance decision under the DSA, we accuse X of violating users’ rights and evading accountability.”

X has 60 days to submit its plan to address the issue of “misleading” blue checkmarks, and 90 days to present a plan to resolve problems with the ad repository and researcher access to public data. The Commission stated: “Failure to comply with the non-compliance decision may lead to periodic penalty payments.”