The proceedings against X have been conducted over the past two years. As their part, the Commission concluded that the platform violates three DSA provisions: it misleadingly uses the "blue checkmark" to verify users, it lacks a transparent ad repository, and it fails to share data for research in a compliant manner.
The fine for violating DSA provisions could reach 6% of the tech company's annual global turnover. Asked by journalists whether the fine was high enough to impress Musk, an anonymous EU official noted that the EC had only concluded the first of its proceedings against X.
"We do not determine (the amount of) a fine based on a percentage of the potential maximum amount we can collect. We base it on the severity of the violations. This investigation focused on transparency. Other investigations, concerning information manipulation and the handling of illegal content, are ongoing"
- the official emphasised.
The EC also investigates, among other things, X's and its owner's actions related to the political scene in Europe. Musk's January pre-election broadcast of an interview with Alice Weidel, leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, would be breaking the DSA rules if it turned out that the X platform gave this conversation special visibility among its users.
Musk's cooperation with US President Donald Trump has ended, but the US administration remains highly critical of the EU's digital policy that just hit the X's owner - dubbing it "censorship". Meanwhile, the EU wants digital giants to take responsibility for the content published on their platforms, and to not abuse their dominant market position against smaller companies.
In the context of this Brussels' scuffle with Trump's administration it is worth mentioning that while countries all across Europe excel in press freedom, the United States has hit a record low in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index - as it ranked 57th among 180 countries analysed.
Nevertheless, in August Donald Trump threatened tariffs on all countries that introduce digital taxes or apply regulations restricting the activities of big tech. In late November, US Trade Secretary Howard Lutnick announced during a visit to Brussels that the US would address the issue of high US tariffs on EU steel and aluminum once the EU has taken advantage of his "advice and guidance" on digital policy.
Also on Friday, the European Commission decided to close the investigation into the Chinese social media platform TikTok regarding advertising transparency. "TikTok has presented a very comprehensive set of commitments that address our concerns" - the Commission announced.
However, the European body is still pursuing another investigation into the Chinese platform, focused on TikTok's policies regarding advertising and paid political content, and initiated after the invalidation of the first round of the Romanian presidential election in December 2024.
Large digital companies with a dominant position in the EU market are subject to the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The DSA imposes requirements on large digital platforms and search engines, including content moderation, the use of algorithms, combating disinformation and hate speech, and labeling political content.
Parts of the DSA's provisions have been in force in the EU since November 2022 - and it is fully applicable from February 2024.
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Source: IAR, PAP