The European Union has fined Elon Musk’s platform X one hundred twenty million euros for violating the bloc’s digital rulebook, issuing the first penalty of its kind under the Digital Services Act and igniting tensions with Washington. The commission said X broke transparency rules through the “deceptive design” of its blue checkmark system and by failing to provide clear information on advertising and researcher access to public data.

 

 

 

“This decision is about the transparency of X” and “nothing to do with censorship,” said the EU’s tech chief, Henna Virkkunen, who pushed back against criticism from US vice president JD Vance. Before the fine was even announced, Vance warned Europe against “attacking American companies over garbage,” prompting Musk to reply, “Much appreciated.”

 

 

 

The DSA probe into X began in December 2023 and found last year that the platform failed to verify account identities meaningfully after Musk’s overhaul of the verification system. Under the changes, “anyone can pay” for a blue badge, the EU said, leaving users exposed to impersonation scams, fraud and manipulation by malicious actors.

 

 

 

The commission said X also failed to meet transparency obligations for political and commercial advertising and did not provide researchers with the data access required by the DSA. Other parts of the investigation, including probes into illegal content and information manipulation, remain ongoing.

 

 

 

The case had appeared to stall amid political concerns over US reaction, particularly after Donald Trump returned to the White House and Musk re established influence in Washington. Brussels nevertheless moved forward, with Virkkunen saying the penalty was “proportionate” to the violations. “We are not here to impose the highest fines. We are here to make sure that our digital legislation is enforced,” she said.

 

 

 

Under the DSA, companies can be fined up to six percent of their global annual revenue. The EU could have based its penalty on Musk’s wider business empire, including Tesla, but opted for what is considered a moderate figure.

 

 

 

Advocacy group the Center for Countering Digital Hate welcomed the decision, saying it demonstrated that “no tech platform is above the laws all corporations have to abide by.” France’s digital affairs minister, Anne Le Henanff, called it a “historic” moment that showed Europe “is capable of moving from words to action.”

 

 

 

The White House has repeatedly criticised the EU’s regulatory approach. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last week urged Brussels to rethink its digital rules if it wanted discussions on lowering steel tariffs to continue. A national security strategy released Friday by the Trump administration told Europe to “abandon its failed focus on regulatory suffocation.”

 

 

 

Alongside the X decision, the commission announced that it had accepted commitments from TikTok to address concerns over advertising transparency, although the Chinese owned platform remains under DSA investigation for other issues. EU officials insisted that US political pressure did not influence their handling of the X case and said the priority was to ensure the legal basis for enforcement was airtight.