The European Union hit Elon Musk’s X–—previously known as Twitter—with a €120 million ($140 million) fine on Friday, December 5th. In a move that risks a fresh clash with U.S. president Donald Trump’s administration, the EU claims X is violating its digital regulations.
Announcing the first-ever fine under its Digital Services Act (DSA) related to content, the EU said it was penalizing X for failing to comply with transparency requirements, including the “deceptive design” of its blue checkmark.
America’s Vice President J.D. Vance warned the EU pre-emptively on Thursday:
Rumors are swirling that the EU Commission will fine X hundreds of millions of dollars for not engaging in censorship. The EU should be supporting free speech, not attacking American companies over garbage.
The EU’s tech chief, Henna Virkkunen, told reporters that the decision “is all about transparency” and “has nothing to do with censorship.”
If you comply with our rules, you don’t get a fine–it’s as simple as that.
Croatian conservative MEP Stephen Nikola Bartulica (ECR) also criticized the move:
The European Commission wants to fine X because he refuses to accept the censorship imposed by the EU. Freedom of speech must be one of the foundations of the European Union. It seems that the unelected bureaucrats running the EU refuse to accept this.
