Speaking at a White House event focused on domestic economic policy, Trump described the penalty as "a nasty one," expressing disbelief at the European Union's regulatory actions and signaling his intent to delve deeper into the matter. The remarks, delivered offhandedly to reporters, come amid broader U.S. criticisms of what Trump and his administration view as overreach by Brussels into American technological innovation and free speech principles.
"Oh, that's a nasty one. Elon has not called me to ask for help on that one. But no, it's a tough thing. I don't think it's right," Trump said, referring to Musk, his former political ally and advisor during the 2024 campaign. He added, "I'll speak about it later. I'm going to get a full report on it. Look, Europe has to be very careful. They're doing a lot of things. We want to keep Europe, Europe." Trump's comments, captured on video and widely circulated on social media, amplified a chorus of backlash from U.S. officials who have framed the fine not merely as a corporate slap on the wrist but as an assault on American sovereignty in the digital age.
The fine, announced by the European Commission on Friday, December 5, 2025, marks the bloc's first enforcement action under the Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping 2022 regulation designed to curb online harms, enhance transparency, and protect users from deceptive practices across the 27-nation European Union. The DSA, which applies to platforms with more than 45 million monthly EU users—X exceeds 100 million—imposes obligations on companies to mitigate illegal content, combat disinformation, and ensure accountability in algorithmic decision-making. Violations can result in penalties of up to 6% of a company's global annual revenue; for X, whose 2024 revenue was estimated between $2.5 billion and $2.7 billion, the maximum theoretical fine could exceed $162 million, making the €120 million levy appear relatively modest by comparison.
At the heart of the Commission's decision is X's controversial blue checkmark verification system, revamped by Musk shortly after his $44 billion acquisition of the platform (then Twitter) in October 2022. Under the old model, blue checkmarks were reserved for public figures, journalists, and organizations after a rigorous editorial review process. Musk's overhaul transformed it into a subscription-based perk via X Premium, costing €8 ($9) monthly, allowing any paying user to obtain the badge without substantive vetting. Regulators deemed this shift a "deceptive design" under Article 25(1) of the DSA, arguing it misleads users into assuming verified status equates to authenticity, thereby heightening risks of scams, impersonation, and misinformation.
"By allowing users to purchase verification status, X deceives users about the authenticity of accounts and content they engage with," the Commission stated in its ruling, emphasizing that the change erodes trust and exposes vulnerable Europeans—particularly the elderly and less tech-savvy—to fraud. A 2023 study by the DSA Transparency Center, an independent EU body, found that paid verification correlated with a 25% uptick in reported impersonation incidents on the platform, including fake accounts mimicking EU officials during elections. The fine allocates €45 million specifically to this breach, reflecting its perceived severity in undermining user safety.
Compounding the issue are X's shortcomings in transparency for advertising and data access. The Commission's probe, initiated in late 2023, revealed that X's advertising repository—a mandatory DSA database cataloging all political, issue-based, and targeted ads—suffers from "excessive delays in processing" and lacks essential accessibility features. This repository is intended to empower researchers, journalists, and civil society to scrutinize ad campaigns for scams, election interference, or coordinated disinformation efforts. However, X's implementation imposed "unnecessary barriers," such as rate-limiting queries and opaque search functionalities, rendering it ineffective for real-time analysis. For instance, during the 2024 European Parliament elections, independent watchdogs reported delays of up to 48 hours in ad data retrieval, hampering timely fact-checking of foreign influence operations. This violation drew a €35 million portion of the fine.
Additionally, X was faulted for obstructing researchers' access to public data on views, likes, and engagement metrics, essential for studying systemic risks like algorithmic amplification of hate speech or echo chambers. The DSA mandates "effective and timely" data sharing to foster academic scrutiny, but X's policies—citing privacy concerns and proprietary algorithms—created hurdles that the Commission labeled as "evasion of accountability." This aspect accounted for €40 million of the penalty. Henna Virkkunen, the EU's Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy, defended the decision as "proportionate," calculated based on infringement gravity, affected users (over 100 million), and duration (spanning two years). "Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, obscuring information on ads, and shutting out researchers have no place online in the EU. The DSA protects users," Virkkunen asserted.
The ruling followed a protracted investigation launched in response to preliminary findings in May 2025, during which X cooperated minimally compared to peers like TikTok, which settled similar ad transparency charges without a fine. X now faces deadlines: 60 working days to rectify the blue checkmark system and 90 days to propose fixes for ad and data access issues. Non-compliance could trigger periodic penalties or escalated fines. Musk, whose net worth hovers near $300 billion, dismissed the announcement with a curt "Bullshit" reply on X, followed by calls to "abolish the EU" and restore sovereignty to individual nations. In a subsequent escalation, X deactivated the European Commission's advertising account, accusing it of exploiting platform glitches to boost visibility of the fine announcement—a move the Commission denied, noting it hadn't advertised on X since 2023.
Trump's intervention injects high-stakes geopolitics into what was already a flashpoint in U.S.-EU relations. The President, who has long railed against European "freeloading" on defense and trade imbalances, tied the fine to wider concerns articulated in his administration's freshly unveiled National Security Strategy. Released last week, the document lambasts Europe for "trampling on basic principles of democracy" through overregulation, mass migration policies risking "civilizational erasure," and insufficient burden-sharing on Ukraine. Trump's warning—"Europe is going in some bad directions"—echoes Vice President JD Vance's recent Munich speech, where he mocked EU "censorship" regimes and urged resistance to Brussels' trajectory. Secretary of State Marco Rubio amplified the rhetoric on X, declaring the fine "an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments." Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr echoed this, decrying it as punishment for X's success in prioritizing free expression over mandated moderation. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick joined the fray, hinting at retaliatory tariffs on EU goods if such "anti-American" actions persist.
These salvos revive Trump's first-term trade wars, when he slapped 25% tariffs on European steel and aluminum, citing unfair practices. Analysts warn that a second Trump administration could weaponize similar measures against DSA enforcers, potentially targeting €200 billion in annual U.S.-EU digital trade. The strategy document explicitly invokes the Monroe Doctrine's revival, opposing "European interference in American affairs" while courting nationalist movements in Hungary, Italy, and Germany to fracture EU unity. European diplomats, speaking anonymously, expressed alarm that Trump's rhetoric could embolden far-right parties ahead of 2026 national elections in France and Germany.
From X's vantage, the fine arrives at a precarious juncture. Since Musk's takeover, the platform has shed advertisers amid controversies over relaxed content policies, with revenue dipping 40% in 2023 before stabilizing. Yet user engagement has surged, particularly in Europe, where X boasts the highest penetration among social platforms at 28% of adults, per 2025 Eurobarometer data. Musk has leveraged the backlash to rally supporters, posting memes decrying the EU as a "bureaucratic black hole" and teasing potential geoblocking for European users—a nuclear option that could violate DSA further but galvanize his base.
Brussels, undeterred, insists the DSA is nationality-agnostic, applying equally to U.S. firms like Meta (fined €200 million in April 2025 for antitrust breaches) and Apple's €500 million penalty under the Digital Markets Act. Commission spokesperson Eric Mamer rebutted U.S. claims, stating, "Our legislation defends digital and democratic standards that serve as a global benchmark." Virkkunen reiterated that the probe focused on "transparency provisions for citizens," not content censorship, countering narratives from Vance and Rubio. Three ongoing DSA investigations into X—concerning algorithmic biases, incitement to violence, and Community Notes efficacy—could yield heftier penalties, with decisions slated for early 2026.
As Trump commissions his "full report," the episode lays bare a philosophical chasm: Europe's emphasis on regulated digital spaces versus America's laissez-faire ethos. With Musk's influence in Trump's orbit—despite a reported 2025 rift over policy divergences—the fine risks becoming a proxy for renewed U.S.-EU hostilities. Stakeholders on both sides brace for appeals, countermeasures, and perhaps a renegotiated transatlantic tech pact. For now, Trump's admonition hangs heavy: Preserve "Europe, Europe," or face the consequences of a drifting alliance.
