Elon Musk owned social media company 'X' was fined 120 million euros ($140 million) by EU tech regulators on Friday December 5,2025 for breaching EU online content rules.
The action was taken as the first sanction under landmark legislation,or first content law penalty, which will likely draw the U.S. government's ire.
While X rival company TikTok settles with EU, after staving off a penalty with concessions.
As reported by Reuters, Europe’s crackdown on big tech companies that was initiated to ensure smaller rivals can compete and consumers have more choice, has been criticized by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The U.S. President says it singles out American companies and censors Americans.
While the European Union Commission’s executive, said its laws do not target any nationality and that it is merely defending its digital and democratic standards which usually serve as the benchmark for the rest of the world.
The EU tech chief says it's fine, not censorship and the EU sanction against the American social media platform followed a two-year-long investigation under the bloc’s Digital Services Act DSA, which requires online platforms to do more to tackle illegal and harmful content.
The EU’s investigation of ByteDance’s social media app Tik Tok led to charges in May that it breached a DSA requirement to publish an advertisement repository allowing users and researchers to detect scam advertisements.
The European Commission's tech chief, Henna Virkkunen said X's modest fine was proportionate and calculated based on the nature of the infringements, their gravity in terms of affected EU users and their duration.
She also clarifies, “We are not here to impose the highest fines. We are here to make sure that our digital legislation is enforced and if you comply with our rules, you don't get the fine. And it's as simple as that.”
US Vice President JDVance said that EU should not attack American companies.
Vance fired a warning against “attacking” US firms through “censorship” before the penalty was even made public.
Imposing the first-ever fine under its powerful DSA on content, the EU said it was hitting X for non-compliance with transparency rules including through the “deceptive design” of its blue checkmark.
According to Reuters, ‘X’ has almost 90 working days to come up with measures to comply with the DSA, with the time frame depending on the issue.
Ahead of the EU decision, Vance said on X, “Rumors are swirling that the EU commission will fine ‘X’ hundreds of millions of dollars for not engaging in censorship and the EU should be supporting free speech, not attacking American companies over garbage."
EU regulators said X's DSA violations included the deceptive design of its blue checkmark for verified accounts, the lack of transparency of its advertising repository, and its failure to provide researchers access to public data.
The Commission further informed that the investigation into the dissemination of illegal content on X and measures taken to combat information manipulation and a separate probe into TikTok's design, algorithmic systems and obligation to protect children continue.
It also informed that DSA fines can be as high as 6% of a company's annual global revenue.
Additionally, TikTok, which pledged changes to its ad library to be more transparent, urged regulators to apply the law equally and consistently across all platforms.
Meta and TikTok were charged with breaching DSA transparency obligations in October, while Chinese online marketplace Temu was accused of violating rules to prevent the sale of illegal products.
