US backs Elon Musk's bid to overturn €120m EU fine against X

Elon Musk’s social‑media platform X is receiving direct backing from the United States as it seeks to overturn a €120 million fine imposed by the European Commission for “deceiving users” by selling blue verification checkmarks without “meaningfully verifying” the identities behind the accounts. On Thursday, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate argued that the Commission had overreached by trying to regulate an American‑headquartered company outside its jurisdiction, and the Department of Justice filed an application with the EU’s General Court to intervene on behalf of Musk and X. The DOJ contends that, under EU law, a member state may join a case if it can demonstrate a clear interest in the outcome, and it claims the United States has a vested interest in ensuring the Commission’s decision aligns with established principles of territorial jurisdiction and does not prejudice U.S. digital services that are vital to the national economy.

The fine stems from the Commission’s first formal non‑compliance decision under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the EU’s mandatory framework for online platforms. In addition to the blue‑tick issue, regulators accused X of lacking transparency in its advertising practices and of denying researchers access to public data, actions they said undermined users’ rights and evaded accountability. Executive Vice‑President for Tech Sovereignty Henna Virkkunen emphasized that such deceptive practices have no place online in the EU, while the Commission maintains that its enforcement is aimed at protecting digital and democratic standards rather than targeting any nationality. The DSA case represents a broader push by European authorities to hold large platforms to stricter accountability, and it coincides with other investigations, including one into X’s AI assistant Grok over allegations that it was used to generate sexualised images of real people.

U.S. officials have publicly criticized the Commission’s approach, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Federal Communications Commission labeling the fine as an attack on American tech firms and, by extension, on American users. Rubio posted on X that the penalty is “an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments.” The European Commission, however, rejected claims of nationality‑based targeting, insisting its actions are solely aimed at upholding the EU’s digital standards. As the legal battle proceeds, X has announced it will halt the Grok AI feature that produced undressed images of real individuals, a move prompted by public backlash and further scrutiny from regulators. The outcome of the General Court case could set a precedent for how trans‑Atlantic tech disputes are adjudicated and influence future enforcement of the DSA across global platforms.

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