FOX Business’ Stuart Varney examines Europe’s strict speech rules under the Digital Services Act, arrests related to online postings, and warnings against deferring to European standards for what Americans can say on social media.
Elon Musk And Trump administration officials slammed the European Union after the bloc’s executive branch imposed a $140 million fine on his social media platform X.
“The EU should be abolished and sovereignty returned to countries so that governments can better represent their people.” Mr. Musk wrote about X “AbolishTheEU,” he added on Saturday.
The European Commission announced on Friday that it had fined Company X for “breach of transparency obligations” under the Digital Services Act (DSA), adding that it would “hold Company X accountable” for, among other things, what the EU considers X’s “blue checkmark” design to be “deceptive”, the “lack of transparency in its advertising repositories” and its “failure to provide researchers with access to public data”. The Commission posted an announcement of a $140 million fine against X.
Elon Musk, Vice President J.D. Vance (center), and Secretary of State Marco Rubio (right) condemned the EU’s $140 million fine against X. (Nathan Howard/Reuters, Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images, Mandel Gunn/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Friday, in response to a question. X post from Sen. Ted Cruz, The Texas Republican called the fines “an abomination” and said President Donald Trump should impose sanctions “until this travesty is reversed.” Mr. Musk replied: “The EU imposed this insane fine not only on X, but on me personally. This is even more insane!”
“It therefore seems appropriate to extend our response not only to the EU, but also to the individuals who took this action against me,” Musk wrote. More on fines in another post “bull–”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in X He said the fine was “not just an attack on X, but an attack by a foreign government against the entire American technology platform and the American people.”
before the fine was announced. Vice President JD Vance said: “The EU should support free speech instead of attacking American companies over trash.”
The EU adopted the DSA in 2022 to regulate online platforms such as social networks and “prevent the spread of illegal and harmful activities and disinformation online”, but the law has since faced opposition from EU countries. trump administration Freedom of speech is being promoted on the world stage.
Thomas Reiner, the commission’s spokesperson for technology sovereignty, defense, space and research, insisted at a press conference on Friday that the fines were not related to content moderation.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick is among Trump administration officials who oppose fines against X. (Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images/Getty Images)
“Today’s decision has nothing to do with content moderation,” Reiner said. “This is about transparency provisions for citizens here in the European Union.”
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Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said in X “The Digital Services Act is aimed at suppressing free speech and American tech companies,” he said. “We are making our position clear to our European partners.”
“Foreign bureaucrats have no right to tell Americans what they can and cannot say.” Sen. Eric Schmidt added: R-Mo.
“Once again, Europe is fining a successful American tech company for being a successful American tech company.” Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr said: “Europe is taxing Americans to subsidize a continent held back by Europe’s own stifling regulations.”
Elon Musk (not pictured) holds a press conference with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on Friday, May 30, 2025. (Francis Chan/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida; “The United States is no longer willing to turn a blind eye while foreign governments censor their citizens and bully our companies.”
The European Commission further explained its reasons in a press release.
Use of “Blue Checkmark” by “X” “Verified account” “X allows anyone to pay for ‘verified’ status without companies meaningfully verifying who is behind the account, making it difficult for users to determine the trustworthiness of their accounts and the content they engage with,” the commission said in a statement. This deception exposes users to fraud such as identity theft and other forms of manipulation by malicious actors. ”
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It also said that “X’s ad repository does not meet the DSA’s transparency and accessibility requirements. Accessible and searchable ad repositories are critical for researchers and civil society to detect fraud, hybrid threat campaigns, coordinated information manipulation, and false advertising.”
FOX Business’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.
