US hits out at EU's 'suffocating regulations' after it fines Elon Musk's X
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The EU has fined Elon Musk's social media platform X €120m (£105m) over its blue tick badges - prompting an angry reaction from the US. 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. "This deception exposes users to scams, including impersonation frauds, as well as other forms of manipulation by malicious actors," it said. But US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have criticised the EU regulator, accusing it of attacking and censoring US firms.
"The European Commission's fine isn't just an attack on X, it's an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments," Rubio wrote in a post on X. "The days of censoring Americans online are over." His remarks were reposted by Musk, who added "absolutely". Earlier on Friday, FCC chair Brendan Carr had accused the Commission of targeting X merely because it was "a successful US tech company". "Europe is taxing Americans to subsidise a continent held back by Europe's own suffocating regulations," he wrote. Their comments echo those made by US Vice-President JD Vance on Thursday. He lashed out at the EU amid rumours of its forthcoming fine - claiming the platform was being punished "for not engaging in censorship". "The EU should be supporting free speech, not attacking American companies over garbage," he said. Social media expert Matt Navarra said the comments showed the fine was not "just a punishment [but] a statement" of the EU's willingness to enforce its regulation of tech firms.
'Evading accountability'
In addition to taking issue with its use of blue ticks, EU regulators said X was also failing to provide transparency around its adverts, and it was not giving researchers access to public data. "The fine issued today was calculated taking into account the nature of these infringements, their gravity in terms of affected EU users, and their duration," the Commission said. Henna Virkkunen, the regulator's executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, said it was "holding X responsible for undermining users' rights and evading accountability". "Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, obscuring information on ads and shutting out researchers have no place online in the EU," she said. The decision means X must tell the Commission how it will bring the allegedly violating measures into compliance with EU laws, or face further, periodic fines. The action constitutes the Commission's first decision on a platform's "non-compliance" with its Digital Services Act (DSA) - one of two rulebooks online firms must follow in order to operate their services in the EU. The DSA sets out obligations for platforms around content, data and advertising, while the Digital Markets Act establishes how companies should operate in order to benefit consumers and competition. Such rules have come under increased scrutiny from US leaders, who warned against tougher regulation of tech firms by governments and regulators.
Musk's controversial blue tick changes