US seeks to join Musk's fight against EU fine

The United States government has formally sought to join a legal challenge filed by billionaire Elon Musk in an attempt to dismiss a 120 million euro fine imposed by the European Union on his social media platform X. The EU's tech regulators imposed the sanction last year for allegedly breaching online content rules, marking the first penalty under a significant legislation that has faced criticism from Washington.

The US Department of Justice filed an application with the EU's General Court to support X's effort to annul the fine, citing the European Commission's inappropriate expansion of regulatory authority to target American companies not operating within its jurisdiction. Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the US Justice Department's civil division emphasized this point.

While the European Commission maintains its laws do not target any nationality and aim to uphold digital and democratic standards, US President Donald Trump has criticized the EU's approach, alleging it unfairly singles out American companies. Musk, a financial supporter of Trump's Republican Party, has argued that EU tech regulations hinder technological progress.

Since acquiring X in 2022, rights advocates and experts have raised concerns about the platform's increasing instances of hate speech, misinformation, and nonconsensual sexually explicit content.