Key Points
- The EU fined Elon Musk’s X $140 million for violating its new Digital Services Act (DSA).
- U.S. officials slammed the fine, calling it censorship and an attack on American tech companies.
- The EU defended the action, stating it is simply enforcing its laws and not targeting any specific country.
- Rival TikTok avoided a similar penalty by agreeing to make changes to its platform.
The European Union has fined Elon Musk’s social media company X $140 million for violating the bloc’s new online content rules. The decision, announced Friday, marks the first major penalty under the landmark Digital Services Act (DSA) and has ignited a firestorm of criticism from the U.S. government.
EU regulators said X violated the law in several ways, including the deceptive design of its blue checkmark for verified accounts, a lack of transparency in its advertising, and its failure to give researchers access to public data. The DSA requires large online platforms to do more to combat illegal and harmful content.
Top U.S. officials immediately blasted the fine. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it “an attack on all American tech platforms,” while Vice President JD Vance accused the EU of punishing X for “not engaging in censorship.” They argue that Europe is unfairly targeting successful American companies.
The EU’s tech chief, Henna Virkkunen, pushed back hard against these claims. She insisted the DSA has “nothing to do with censorship” and that the EU is simply enforcing its own digital standards. “If you comply with our rules, you don’t get the fine. And it’s as simple as that,” she told reporters.
Meanwhile, rival platform TikTok avoided a similar fine by agreeing to make changes to its advertising library to increase transparency. The EU’s investigation into both X and TikTok’s handling of illegal content and child safety measures is still ongoing.
