Technology & Science
EU Issues First DSA Non-Compliance Fine: €120 Million Penalty for X
On 5 Dec 2025 the European Commission formally fined Elon Musk’s X €120 million and set 60- and 90-day deadlines to fix paid blue-check verification, ad transparency, and researcher data access.
Focusing Facts
- The €120 million levy equals roughly 0.5 % of X’s 2024 global revenue of $2.5 billion—far below the DSA’s maximum 6 % penalty.
- X must deliver a corrective action plan for its advertising database and data-access rules within 90 working days or face escalating daily fines.
- U.S. Vice President JD Vance criticized the fine hours before its release, framing it as punishment for "not engaging in censorship."
Context
Brussels’ move echoes the EU’s 2004 €497 million judgment against Microsoft, which foreshadowed years of European leadership in tech regulation; both cases involve non-European giants and hinge on transparency and user trust rather than outright market share. The fine illustrates a broader trend: nation-states and supranational blocs asserting sovereignty over digital gatekeepers much as the U.S. did with AT&T in 1913 or with the 1998 Microsoft antitrust suit. Whether the penalty sticks matters because, if upheld in court and applied even-handedly to non-U.S. firms, it will mark a pivot from self-regulated social media toward state-mandated accountability—shaping how information flows, elections, and economic power are governed over the next hundred years. If it fails, the episode will be remembered as another skirmish in the long tug-of-war between regulatory borders and borderless networks.
Perspectives
European mainstream and policy-focused media
Insider Media Ltd, POLITICO, IndiaTimes, UPI — Present the €120 million penalty as a landmark, necessary enforcement of the Digital Services Act that protects users from deceptive practices on X and re-establishes trust online. By foregrounding EU officials’ quotes while skimming over free-speech worries and the disproportionate impact on U.S. firms, the coverage implicitly casts Brussels as an impartial guardian rather than a regulator with its own political incentives.
U.S. right-leaning voices and outlets
The Daily Signal, JD Vance, Rubio, FCC Carr — Claim the fine is an anti-American move that penalises X for resisting “censorship” and suppresses free speech by targeting a successful U.S. tech firm. Framing the dispute as Europe-versus-America and tying it to culture-war politics glosses over the documented transparency breaches, appealing to partisan outrage more than to the specific DSA findings.
Tech-industry and crypto trade press
Ars Technica, Techmeme — Treat the decision as a high-stakes test case for the DSA, zeroing in on what product changes, legal battles or market impacts X might face after the fine. To drive clicks and industry chatter, these outlets often emphasise the ‘first-ever’ drama and speculate on Musk’s next moves, sometimes sidelining broader public-interest questions about platform safety.