Elon Musk’s X appeals ‘biased’ EU fine

The social media platform has accused Brussels of “systematic breaches” of its rights

Elon Musk’s X platform has filed an appeal against a €120 million ($141.5 million) fine handed down by the EU for alleged breaches of its Digital Services Act (DSA). Musk has accused the EU of deliberately targeting his platform over its refusal to censor users.

Three appeals were filed in the EU’s Court of Justice this week: two by X and its AI subsidiary, and one by Musk himself. Back in December, the European Commission addressed the first non-compliance fine issued under the DSA.

The commission claimed that X breached the DSA’s transparency requirements, and that its provision of blue verification checkmarks to paying users is a “deceptive” practice.

“This EU Decision resulted from an incomplete and superficial investigation, grave procedural errors, a tortured interpretation of the obligations under the DSA, and systematic breaches of rights of defence and basic due process requirements suggesting prosecutorial bias,” X’s Global Government Affairs team said in a statement on Friday.

Read more

Musk has accused the EU of deliberately trying to shut down X, claiming in 2024 that he was approached by the commission and offered an “illegal secret deal.” The billionaire claimed that he was told “if we quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us.”

When the fine was issued in December, Musk called for the abolition of the EU. The US State Department sanctioned five EU officials in response, including former Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, who in 2024 threatened Musk with legal action if he broadcast an interview with then presidential candidate Donald Trump on X. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called Breton and his colleagues “activists,” who “coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints.”

Documents published by the US House Judiciary Committee last month revealed that the EU used the threat of DSA fines to compel multiple social media platforms to suppress political content, including “anti-migrant” posts and “populist rhetoric.”

X is facing dozens of investigations in Europe, including parallel EU, UK, French, Irish, and Spanish probes into explicit images generated with its Grok AI bot.