After regulators fined his platform X €120 million ($140 million) for breaking the Digital Services Act, Elon Musk said that the European Union should be shut down. The fine is the result of a two-year investigation into X’s “misleading” blue checkmark system and lack of ad transparency. Musk called the fine “bulls—” and “insane,” and he said that each country should be free to make its own decisions.
The European Commission said that X broke DSA rules by using paid blue checkmarks that trick users into thinking their accounts are verified. X also didn’t keep a good public ad repository for keeping an eye on scams and political ads, and they limited researchers’ access to data. X has 60 days to suggest fixes or face more penalties.
Musk wrote on X that the EU fine was aimed at both the platform and him personally, calling it “crazy.” He went further by saying, “The EU should be abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries,” and adding #AbolishTheEU. He had called the Commission’s announcement “Bulls—” before.
This is the EU’s first big DSA action against X, and it’s happening at the same time as crackdowns on big tech companies like Apple and Meta. U.S. officials, including Trump supporters, called it anti-American and said it could be challenged in court. Henna Virkkunen, the EU’s vice president, defended the fine as fair for protecting users.
