The European Commission has fined Elon Musk’s X Corp €120 Million for failing to comply with the EU’s ‘Digital Services Act’, which is Brussels-speak for their censorship charter. Apparently X Corp neglected to meet the EU’s ‘transparency obligations’, with the European Commission saying X’s blue checkmark is “deceptive,” and that the company had failed to provide access to public data required by the law. If there’s one thing the EU loves, it’s punishing American tech companies. When was the last time a world-leading tech giant grew out of Europe?
The European Commission’s Executive Vice President for Tech Sovereignty (yes that is a real title) Henna Virkkunen said:
“We’re not here to impose the highest fines, we’re here to make sure that our digital legislation is enforced. If you comply with our rules, you don’t get a fine.”
She added that the fine was “proportionate” to the “nature of these infringements, their gravity in terms of affected EU users, and their duration“. Asked for a more specific breakdown, Virkkunen claimed it “drilled down to a simple economic formula”. So presumably it just depends on which side of bed she woke up on that day…
US Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday:
“Rumors swirling that the EU commission will fine X hundreds of millions of dollars for not engaging in censorship. The EU should be supporting free speech not attacking American companies over garbage.”
Now the rumours are a reality…
