According to Ars Technica, the European Commission fined Elon Musk’s X nearly $140 million on Friday, marking the first major penalty under the EU’s Digital Services Act. The fine stems from two key violations: that X’s paid blue checkmark system “deceives users” about account verification, and that the platform failed to provide transparent, accessible data in its ad repository and to researchers. The deceptive checkmark issue dates back to November 2022, when Musk first introduced the $8-per-month subscription, immediately sparking a wave of impersonator accounts. X now has 60 days to outline how it will fix the verification issue and 90 days to address the ad transparency problems. The Commission built its case over two years, anticipating that X would likely sue to counter the findings.
Why the fine hits home
Here’s the thing: this isn’t just some bureaucratic slap on the wrist. The EU is going after the very core of Musk’s chaotic rebrand of Twitter. His whole pitch was about “free speech” and, ironically, eliminating bots. But the Commission concluded that the paid blue check actually made it harder to identify bots and malicious actors. That’s a pretty brutal indictment. They’re basically saying the feature Musk rolled out to make money and supposedly empower users has instead made the platform more dangerous, exposing people to scams and impersonation fraud. And the ad repository stuff? That’s a big deal for election integrity. When you hide who’s paying for an ad and what it’s about, you make it impossible to track disinformation campaigns. So this fine is about fundamental platform safety, not just rule-breaking.
The impending legal war
No one expects Musk to take this lying down. He hasn’t commented directly yet, but he reposted a lawyer suggesting Congress pass a law to let X sue the EU in U.S. courts for triple the damages. And Trump’s VP pick, JD Vance, is already framing it as “EU censorship.” The Commission itself delayed the investigation to build a “strong legal case,” fully expecting a lawsuit. So we’re about to see the first real courtroom test of the DSA. Can a U.S. company fight EU jurisdiction over how it operates in Europe? Musk might try, but the EU seems confident. Their tech chief called the fine “modest” and “proportionate,” stressing the DSA has “nothing to do with censorship.” This is going to be a messy, expensive, and highly political fight.
A chilling effect on research
One of the more subtle but damaging impacts here is on independent research. Musk killed free API access back in February 2023, and the Commission confirmed X failed to provide researchers with the data access the DSA requires. The result? Over 100 researchers stopped studying X. Think about that. We’ve lost independent tracking of hate speech, child safety, and misinformation on one of the world’s biggest platforms because researchers are both locked out and, reportedly, afraid of being sued by Musk. That creates a black box. It means the only narrative about what’s happening on X is the one X itself chooses to share. For a platform that’s central to global discourse, that’s a terrifying prospect.
Bigger than just X
This is a shot across the bow for every major online platform. The EU is signaling it’s serious about enforcing the DSA, and X is just the first example. The fine itself might be a rounding error for a company of X’s size, but the precedent is huge. It establishes that how you design features—like verification badges—and how transparent you are with ads and data are now regulatory issues. Other platforms are watching. And this isn’t happening in a vacuum. As Politico reports, the U.S. is already trying to use trade negotiations, like steel tariffs, as leverage to get the EU to back off on tech regulation. So this fine isn’t the end of a story. It’s the opening move in a much bigger geopolitical and legal battle over who gets to set the rules for the internet.
