Elon Musk's X appeals $140M EU fine
Source: The Hill
02/21/26 3:09 PM ET
Billionaire Elon Musk’s social platform X has appealed a $140 million fine from the European Commission in a landmark case that could shape how online platforms are regulated across Europe. The company’s Global Government Affairs team said in a Friday post that it had filed an appeal with the General Court of the European Union to challenge the 120-million Euro fine imposed by the commission in December for violating the Digital Services Act (DSA).
“This EU Decision resulted from an incomplete and superficial investigation, grave procedural errors, a tortured interpretation of the obligations under the DSA, and systematic breaches of rights of defence and basic due process requirements suggesting prosecutorial bias,” the team wrote.
The commission, the European Union’s independent executive body, accused X of violating transparency requirements and deceiving users through the design of its verification program. Allowing anyone to pay for a blue checkmark made it difficult for users to determine the authenticity of accounts on the platform, they claimed.
“Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, obscuring information on ads and shutting out researchers have no place online in the EU,” Henna Virkkunen, the bloc’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, said in a statement at the time. The fine was the first brought under the DSA, a 2022 law that strengthens accountability for online platforms by requiring them to limit illegal content on their sites, provide protections for minors against inappropriate content and targeted advertising, and give users more control over how content is recommended to them.
Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5749310-elon-musk-x-appeals-eu-fine/
REFERENCE - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143577565
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