Brussels is digging in for a courtroom battle over its landmark penalty against Elon Musk’s X, insisting it is “ready to defend” the €120 million fine even as Washington moves to join the fight on the platform’s side.
Mr Musk and X, formerly known as Twitter, are challenging the sanction imposed by the European Union for breaching the bloc’s online content rules.
The US Justice Department said yesterday it had filed an application at the EU’s second-highest court to support Mr Musk and X as they seek to overturn the European Commission’s December 2025 decision — the first fine ever issued under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
“We have a very solid case that we have advanced, indeed, with a €120 million fine… and the commission is, of course, absolutely ready to defend its position in court,” EU spokesman Thomas Regnier told reporters.
“We have a lot of evidence at our disposal and it will be for the court to decide as always. They are fully independent,” Mr Regnier added.
The penalty, handed down last December, came after a two-year investigation under the DSA, which obliges online platforms to take stronger action against illegal and harmful content.
Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s tech chief, said the relatively modest fine was proportionate, with officials calculating it based on the nature of the infringements, their gravity in terms of affected EU users, and how long they lasted.
Under the DSA, fines can reach up to 6% of a company’s annual global revenue.
