BRUSSELS, Dec. 6, 2025: The European Commission has fined Elon Musk’s social media platform X €120 million after finding that the company breached key transparency rules under the European Union’s Digital Services Act, the first such penalty imposed under the landmark online content law. The Commission said its investigation identified violations in three areas of X’s operations. Regulators concluded that changes to the platform’s blue checkmark system allowed users to purchase a verified badge without robust identity checks, while the visual design still suggested an endorsement of authenticity.
Officials said this practice risked misleading users about whether an account truly belonged to a public figure, brand or institution. A second finding focused on X’s ad transparency obligations. Under the Digital Services Act, very large online platforms must maintain a searchable repository showing who paid for advertisements, what they promote and which audiences they target. Investigators reported that X’s ad library was incomplete, lacked required fields and was updated too slowly to meet the law’s standards for public access and oversight. The third violation related to access for accredited researchers to public data on X.
The European Commission found that policy changes and technical restrictions significantly limited the ability of independent researchers to study content trends, including the spread of illegal material or disinformation, despite provisions in the Digital Services Act that require such access on fair, transparent terms. According to the decision, about €45 million of the fine was linked to the blue checkmark practice, €35 million to shortcomings in the advertising repository and €40 million to restrictions on researcher access to public data.
EU decision outlines transparency failures at X
The total remains below the maximum penalty available under the Digital Services Act, which allows fines of up to 6 percent of a company’s worldwide annual turnover for the most serious cases. The investigation into X’s compliance began in 2023, after the platform introduced its paid verification model and made a series of product and policy changes affecting content labeling, recommendation systems and access to public data. The Commission said the current ruling is limited to transparency obligations and does not address questions of illegal content removal or content moderation decisions.
X has a set period to submit detailed plans describing how it will bring its verification program, advertising repository and researcher access policies into full alignment with the Digital Services Act. The decision also states that if the company does not correct the identified violations within the specified timelines, the Commission may consider additional penalties allowed under EU law. The ruling immediately drew criticism from senior figures in the United States government. Vice President JD Vance had previously warned European officials not to move ahead with the penalty, saying the European Union “should be supporting free speech, not attacking American companies over garbage.”
United States officials respond to European action
After the decision, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the fine “an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments.” Federal Communications Commission member Brendan Carr also criticized the outcome, saying Europe was “taxing Americans” through enforcement actions against large United States technology firms. The comments underscored the political sensitivity surrounding European regulation of American owned digital platforms at a time when governments are adopting new rules for online services.
European officials presented the X decision as a straightforward application of the transparency and accountability requirements embedded in the Digital Services Act. The case is being closely watched by other major platforms that fall under the law’s scope, including large social media networks, video sharing services and online marketplaces that serve tens of millions of users in the European Union, as regulators continue monitoring compliance across the digital ecosystem to ensure that all companies adhere to the same rules. – By EuroWire News Desk.