‘Engaging In Censorship’: European Union Hits Elon Musk’s X With Massive Fine, Draws White House Ire

The European Union fined Elon Musk’s X $140 million on Friday as the bloc targets American social media companies under its expansive internet accountability regulations.

The European Commission, which is the European Union’s executive branch, accused Elon Musk’s company of deceiving its users, failing to meet advertising transparency requirements, and failing to give researchers access to the platform’s data. The commission argues that X violated its Digital Services Act, regulations put into place in 2022 that are designed to clamp down on what it views as illegal content and misinformation on social media.

Before the fine was officially announced, Vice President JD Vance ripped the European Union for planning to impose the penalties against X.

“Rumors 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,” Vance wrote.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio added, “The European Commission’s $140 million fine isn’t just an attack on @X, it’s an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments. The days of censoring Americans online are over.”

The European Commission’s top complaint against X on Friday is that the social media company allows any user to “obtain the ‘verified’ status without the company meaningfully verifying who is behind the account, making it difficult for users to judge the authenticity of accounts and content they engage with.” The commission said that the Digital Services Act does not require platforms to verify users, but added that the regulation “clearly prohibits online platforms from falsely claiming that users have been verified, when no such verification took place.”

“Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, obscuring information on ads and shutting out researchers have no place online in the EU,” said Henna Virkkunen, the executive vice president for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy.” DSA protects users. The DSA gives researchers the way to uncover potential threats. The DSA restores trust in the online environment. With the DSA’s first non-compliance decision, we are holding X responsible for undermining users’ rights and evading accountability.”

Musk also responded to the commission’s complaint, writing on X that his goal with X’s verification system “was to democratize verification, rather than have it be controlled by a group of biased elites!”

The European Union’s move against X was condemned by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, with FCC Chair Brendan Carr saying that Europe is “taxing Americans.”

“Once again, Europe is fining a successful U.S. tech company for being a successful U.S. tech company,” Carr said. “Europe is taxing Americans to subsidize a continent held back by Europe’s own suffocating regulations.”

Conservatives have argued that the Digital Services Act is a way for Europe to clamp down on free speech, even for Americans.

“The DSA can impact anyone, can impact content creators and influencers and preachers and political dissidents and any kind of content online can be regulated by the DSA through its architecture,” Dr. Adina Portaru, a senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom International, told The Daily Wire earlier this year.

X was given 60 days to inform the European Commission of how it plans to address the issues laid out by the bloc. The social media platform has 90 days to submit an “action plan” to the commission, and the Board of Digital Services will then have one month to issue its opinion and another month to release its final decision.