Musk blasts EU over fine on social media platform X

U.S. tech billionaire Elon Musk on Saturday blasted the EU for a fine imposed on his social media platform X for violating transparency rules, warning that his response would target the officials responsible for the penalty.

"The 'EU' imposed this crazy fine not just on (X), but also on me personally, which is even more insane!" the Tesla CEO wrote on X. "Therefore, it would seem appropriate to apply our response not just to the EU, but also to the individuals who took this action against me."

He followed up with another post, saying, "The EU should be abolished."

The EU's decision has already drawn sharp rebukes from U.S. officials, who described the fine as an assault on broader free speech rights and claimed that U.S. companies are being unfairly targeted, local media reported.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose additional tariffs on the EU if it continues to penalize U.S. tech giants.

The European Commission on Friday imposed a fine of 120 million euros (about $140 million) on X for violating its transparency obligations under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA).

The penalty stems from three distinct breaches of the DSA: the deceptive design of X's blue checkmark, lack of transparency in its advertising repository and the platform's failure to provide researchers with access to public data.

The Commission said that the use of the "blue checkmark," which any user can obtain by paying, to designate "verified accounts" exposes users to scams, including impersonation fraud and other forms of manipulation.

It added that X's advertisement repository fails to meet the DSA's transparency and accessibility requirements, and that the platform also falls short of its obligation to provide researchers with access to public data.

(With input from agencies)