US seeks to join Musk’s fight against EU fine

The US has intervened in a legal dispute between Elon Musk and his social media platform X, and the European Commission over a 120-million-euro fine issued under the Digital Services Act (DSA). Musk and X are fighting the fine, which the US Justice Department supports. The DSA, enacted in 2024, mandates stricter content moderation and transparency for online platforms.

Violations can result in fines up to six percent of a company's global annual revenue. The US administration and tech industry argue the DSA constitutes censorship, a claim the EU rejects. The commission fined X for violating transparency rules, using deceptive design in its blue checkmark system, and denying researchers access to public data.

President Trump called the fine "censorship" and imposed sanctions on EU officials. X appealed, claiming the fine violated its due process rights, but has also taken steps to comply, such as expanding researcher access to data and renaming blue checkmarks as "premium" after an independent audit.