The EU fines X €120M for breaching online content rules, the first fine under the DSA, citing issues like its deceptive blue checkmarks, after a two-year probe
‘Impose Sanctions...’ The Verge : EU fines X $140 million over ‘deceptive’ blue checkmarks Inc : Why Elon Musk's X Was Slapped With a $140 Million Fine Eva Terry / Deseret News : European Union fines X $140 million for violating its Digital Services Act Anupriya Datta / Euractiv : EU fines Elon Musk's X €120 million for first confirmed DSA breaches Matt Taibbi / Racket News : Europe Fires a Speech Warning Ashley Belanger / Ars Technica : Elon Musk's X first to be fined under EU's Digital Services Act Scott Younker / Tom's Guide : X faces a $140 million fine for violating the EU's Digital Services Act — Elon Musk responds Romane Armangau / Euronews : European Commission hits Elon Musk's social network X with €120 million fine Associated Press : EU regulators hit Elon Musk's X with 120 million euro fine for breaching bloc's social media law Katie Jerkovich / RedState : Musk Gives Epic One-Word Response to Insane EU X Speech Fine, Gets Backing From Rubio Faith Wardwell / Politico : ‘An attack on all American tech platforms’: Trump admin decries EU fine on Musk's X Michael Tsai : Twitter Fined Under Digital Services Act Katie Collins / CNET : Elon Musk's X Hit With $140M Fine Over ‘Deceptive’ Blue Checkmark Design Usman Qureshi / iPhone in Canada : EU Slaps X with €120 Million Fine Under Digital Services Act Adrian Weckler / Irish Independent : Elon Musk's X fined €120m by Europe for “deception” that blue tick accounts are trustworthy Brandon Vigliarolo / The Register : EU metes out first-ever Digital Services Act fine, dings X for blue check deception Markus Kasanmascheff / WinBuzzer : EU Fines X €120M for ‘Deceptive’ Blue Checks in Historic First DSA Penalty Mary Whitfill Roeloffs / Forbes : Elon Musk's X Hit With $140 Million Fine In Europe For ‘Deceptive’ Practices Jacob Adams / The Daily Signal : European Union Fines Elon Musk's X Stuart Lauchlan / diginomica : Something for the weekend - X marks the spot as Europe takes on Elon with a €120 million fine. Now, what will his on/off BFF in the White House have to say about that? Aisha Malik / TechCrunch : Meta signs commercial AI data agreements with publishers to offer real-time news on Meta AI X: Sandro Gozi / @sandrogozi : The @EU_Commission has finally moved, and Europe sends a clear message: our laws are not optional. Musk and his allies shout censorship to hide a simple truth: transparency and user safety come first. Those who try to bully the EU will find a continent that won't bend. Mike Lee / @basedmikelee : Why is Europe trying to censor X? Millions of Europeans are finally getting red-pilled by reading actual, unbiased news on X—instead of state-approved, legacy-media propaganda So naturally, the European Commission is trying to kill X—because “the truth is dangerous” Pavel Durov / @durov : The EU exclusively targets platforms that host inconvenient or dissenting speech (Telegram, X, TikTok...). Platforms that algorithmically silence people are left largely untouched, despite far more serious illegal content issues. @chrispavlovski : The USA should sanction the EU immediately. Any country that violates our human right to free speech or imposes penalties to US companies exercising this right should feel the immediate wrath by the full power of the US government. Without free speech, we have nothing. Pavel Durov / @durov : The EU imposes impossible rules so it can punish tech firms that refuse to silently censor free speech. We saw the same in France: a baseless “criminal investigation”, then intelligence services offering to help with it if @telegram quietly censored speech in Romania and Moldova. Henna Virkkunen / @hennavirkkunen : Today, we have issued a fine to X for breaching its transparency obligations under the #DSA. The breaches concern the deceptive design of its blue checkmark, the lack of transparency in its ads repository, and the failure to provide access to public data for researchers. [image] @dhh : The EU slaps X with a $140m fine for “confusing users with blue checkmarks” while its citizens choose to trust X as their news source. Meanwhile, traditional media outlets there will write befuddled stories about the mystery of falling trust in the old institutions. @dhh : Europe can't fine or regulate its way back to technological relevance. Monopoly interventions must be based on simple economics. Having Brussels design the color of the checkmark is retarded. The DSA, DMA, and even GPDR has got to go. Full reboot required. Elon Musk / @elonmusk : The “EU” imposed this crazy fine not just on @X, but also on me personally, which is even more insane! Therefore, it would seem appropriate to apply our response not just to the EU, but also to the individuals who took this action against me. Tim Sweeney / @timsweeneyepic : @tomwarren Very strange. After prior Twitter leadership treated verification as a perk nominally reserved for “the elite” by but in practice handed out by Twitter employees to friends and cronies, Elon opened it up to everyone for a reasonable price. This was a good thing. Elon Musk / @elonmusk : Indeed, the goal was to democratize verification, rather than have it be controlled by a group of biased elites! Preston Byrne / @prestonjbyrne : The GRANITE Act would allow X to sue the European Commission in U.S. federal court for three times this amount, and get injunctive relief against the Commission's orders. Congress should enact it ASAP to head off this European censorship attempt. @barryandrewsmep : 🇺🇸 Factcheck Mr. Vice President: the @DigitalEU investigation is not about censorship but about @X hiding its work from researchers and misleading us as users [image] Tom Warren / @tomwarren : the EU has fined X (Twitter) $140 million over “deceptive” blue checkmarks. “Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, obscuring information on ads and shutting out researchers have no place online in the EU,” says the bloc's tech chief https://www.theverge.com/... Elon Musk / @elonmusk : Much appreciated @esjesjesj : 600 people were fired for making comments about Charlie Kirk including just posting things he said Natalie F Danelishen / @chesschick01 : Deny all foreign aid to countries that threaten our first amendment rights. It's FAFO time. Nathalie Loiseau / @nathalieloiseau : When European companies do business in the US, they abide by US law. US business in the EU is very profitable and must respect EU law. Simple, clear and hardly disputable. Kostas Moros / @moroskostas : This is an instance where our country needs to behave more imperially. When supposed allies try to crack down on an American company for protecting American values, we need to use our considerable power to pressure them not to do that. Nicely at first through diplomatic means, @jordwalke : Imagine having to live in Europe. Tony Annett / @tonyannett : Your wicked regime sends masked goons to grab and disappear people who wrote op-eds you don't like. So sit the hell down. @ununitedstates : Awesome how people get imprisoned and deported for writing op-eds but these demons get to keep harping about social media censorship Dean Blundell / @itsdeanblundell : Yet your President killed trade negotiators with Canada over a TV commercial because he loves free speech so much. You stunned fuck. Heiner / @heinrichkuttler : This is just true. Tommy Robinson / @trobinsonnewera : The EU having the audacity to threaten to FINE 𝕏 for refusing to censor the European people. The same EU which fines Hungary EVERY DAY for refusing to let invaders into their country. Tyrants working against Europeans. Dismantle them. [image] Mike Solana / @micsolana : and for my next trick [image] Angus Davis / @angusdav : The solution is “The Granite Act” https://prestonbyrne.com/... @prestonjbyrne @jason : @JDVance What are we going to do about it? John Karony / @cpthodl : Free speech is becoming an American luxury not available in most western countries. Berin Szóka / @berinszoka : More nonsense. X faces liability under the 🇪🇺 Digital Services Act for (1) deceiving users by selling blue ✔️ for “verified” users (2) inadequate ad transparency, and (3) researcher access to data. The Commission has not moved past investigating how X handles unlawful content or @dhh : As much as I wish it was otherwise, the EU's engagement with American tech giants is no longer rooted in a legitimate antitrust interest, but is now equal parts a union-wide censorship operation and a proxy trade war. @daractenus : The United States currently ranks below Ghana, Namibia and nearly every single European country when it comes to freedom of press. You don't get to lecture anyone on this. [image] @grummz : If the EU goes through with censoring X, the US should pull out of NATO and impose 100% tariffs immediately. Otherwise the West will fall. Yes, X is that crucial. Francesca Bria / @francesca_bria : Europe is sovereign. We won't let tech oligarchies, or foreign politicians, dictate our rules. Enforcing EU law isn't censorship; it's defending our democracy, people's rights, and digital sovereignty. LinkedIn: Elaine Fox : Today, the European Commission announced the conclusion of its investigation into TikTok's ad transparency library under Digital Services Act (DSA). … Alexandra Stănciulescu : Not an ordinary Friday for DSA enforcement... Today, the Commission fined X with 120 million euros. Let's understand for what: … Anna De Marchi : The DSA's first non-compliance decision has been adopted! — The European Commission issued a fine to X for breaching its transparency obligations under the DSA. … Kabir Sabharwal : Today the European Commission issued a €120 million fine against X under the Digital Services Act - the first non-compliance decision since the DSA entered into force. … Vassilios Copetinas : Today, #X was fined for €120 millions in the first #DSA non-compliance decision! — By adopting this historic decision … Bluesky: @oldsquida : “The fine is long overdue but insufficient” — ya think? — “The E.U. must keep at it and not bow to geopolitical pressure from the U.S.” — yeah, like that would ever happen — unpaywalled: archive.ph/2025.12.06-0... Daphne Keller / @daphnek : The ads thing is that the DSA requires a public archive showing what ads ran, who paid for it, etc. X fell drastically short. Like, didn't show the content of the ad or who paid for it. — More here in @ec.europa.eu announcement, sorry I didn't link before! — ec.europa.eu/commission/p... … Patrick / @paddyopatrick : Elon Musk's X fined €120m over ‘deceptive’ blue ticks — I'm old enough to remember when Blue Ticks were limited to properly verified accounts.. but then Musk made if “pay to prove you're a kosher a/c” and X's pace increased as it spiraled into a toxic pit of hate &extremism … Abe Newman / @abenewman : Transatlantic crisis brewing: EU imposes huge fine on X for breaching digital rules as US releases national security strategy warning EU against implementing digital regulations. — www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/ u... www.reuters.com/sustainabili... Ton Aarts / @tonaarts : 1/x €45 Million - For deceptive “Blue Checkmarks” — Under X, it became a paid feature anyone could buy — €40 Million - For blocking Researcher Access — Failing to provide researchers with access to public data — €35 Million - For failed advertising transparency … Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life : Elon Musk's X gets the first EU DSA fine ($140M) for deceptive blue checks, lack of transparency in its ad repository and blocking researcher data access. — I doubt X changes course. So even if they pay, what happens next? Nina Jankowicz / @ninajankowicz.com : There will be many who claim this is about “free speech,” but it's not—it's about X and Musk's shady business practices: —meaningless blue checks w no real verification —a lack of ad transparency —not providing data access for researchers — ...all req'd under DSA. … Matthew Smith / @matthewdasmitdog : Be thankful it's only 120M Elon...don't make them alter it any further. 🤭 [embedded post] Robin Berjon / @robin.berjon.com : When you have neither spine nor vision you end up enforcing your regulation in ways that achieve nothing but still give bullies and fascists a hook to play victim and kick you with at the same time. — ec.europa.eu/commission/p... Threads: Brandon Silverman / @silvermanbrandon : But this decision means that, thanks to the EU, a new era of meaningful data sharing requirements and actual transparency might finally be coming into focus (at least in Europe)...and that's a huge deal. We still have a lot of work to do but I'm more hopeful today than I've ever been. Mastodon: Eugene McParland / @EugeneMcParland@mastodon.ie : Elon Musk's social media platform X has been fined €120m by the #EU over its blue tick badges - despite US warnings about doing so. — The European Commission said by allowing people to pay for a blue verified check mark on their profile, the platform “deceives users” because the firm is not “meaningfully verifying” who is behind the account. … Alice Stollmeyer / @AliceStollmeyer@eupolicy.social : EU fines Elon Musk's X/Twitter €120mn for transparency violations. — Good EU effort to limit deceptive practices on social media. — “Our objective is not a fine. When platforms offer solid commitments, we accept them. If they do not, we take action.” — https://ec.europa.eu/... … Julian Jaursch / @jjaursch@mastodon.social : “Commission fines X €120 million under the Digital Services Act” — As part of the Commission's findings, X has 90 days to present an action plan to deal with infringements regarding researcher access to public data. — This might not lead to positive changes immediately/soon but is still some good news: … Wolf Ha / @mistakenotmy@mastodon.social : New: The European Commission has issued a fine of €120 million (~$140m) to X (Twitter) for breaching its transparency obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA). — The breaches include the deceptive design of its ‘blue checkmark’, the lack of transparency of its advertising repository, and the failure to provide access to public data for researchers … Forums: Hacker News : X hit with $140M EU fine for breaching content rules r/BuyFromEU : Commission fines X €120 million under the Digital Services Act See also Mediagazer