EU Confirms Elon Musk’s X Cooperated in €120m Fine as Regulatory Tensions Mount

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Elon Musk’s social media platform X has met the European Commission’s deadline to comply with a €120 million (approx. US$137 million) fine imposed under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). This act establishes rules for transparency and content moderation on online platforms. Companies may be fined up to 6% of their global turnover under the DSA.

This means X either paid the fine or provided guarantees pending an appeal against the penalty. The European Commission has not clarified which is the case. X has also been required to amend the design of its blue checkmarks for verified accounts.

The penalty was issued in December 2025 following an investigation into whether X breached transparency and consumer protection rules. This was the first penalty to be issued under the DSA. 

The European Commission concluded that X’s blue check was misleading. Until 2022, the blue check signified an account had been verified. After 2022, it became a paid feature no longer tied to verification, potentially exposing users to misleading content like scams.

The EU, alongside other jurisdictions, is also investigating X over illegal and harmful content generated by the platform’s AI chatbot, Grok, with continued regulatory pressure on Elon Musk’s company.

The case has also drawn political attention beyond Europe, with US politicians criticising the EU’s approach as overly restrictive.