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Musk: 'EU must be abolished'. Rubio and Vance lash out at Brussels. The EU: 'On our rules we decide'

After X was fined 120 million by the EU Commission

6 December 2025Articolo aggiornato il 6 dicembre 2025

Elon Musk multato dall’Ue per la gestione di X

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

On Friday, the EU Commission imposed a 120 million fine on X, the social of Elon Musk, for violating the transparency requirements of the European Digital Services Act (DSA). Twenty-four hours later Musk attacked again on X: 'The EU should be abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries, so that governments can better represent their citizens'.

The issue comes amidst the tensions between the EU and the US regarding the US national security strategy. "When it comes to decisions that affect the European Union, these are taken by the European Union, for the European Union, including those that affect our regulatory autonomy, the protection of freedom of expression and the rules-based international order," reports an EU Commission spokesperson. 'The transatlantic partnership is unique and, as always, allies are stronger together,' he points out.

The fine imposed on Musk

The one of 5 December is the first non-compliance decision taken under the Dsa, aimed at ending the online Far West. Violations include deceptive blue tick design, lack of transparency of the advertising archive and failure to provide access to public data for researchers. The investigation into suspected DSA violations related to the dissemination of illegal content is still ongoing.

The proceedings had begun on 18 December 2023 and aimed to investigate whether X, detected by Elon Musk in 2022 when it was still called Twitter, had violated the DSA in areas related to the dissemination of illegal content and to assess the effectiveness of the measures taken to counter information manipulation, matters on which the investigation is still ongoing. The Commission also approved commitments by TikTok, a subsidiary of the Chinese ByteDance, to adopt solutions to ensure full transparency with regard to announcements on its services, as required by the Digital Services Act.

After a discussion with the EU executive, TikTok presented binding commitments that 'address all concerns raised by the Commission' in its investigation and preliminary findings in May 2025. These commitments now ensure the 'full transparency' of TikTok's announcements.

Intervening on the matter was Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke on X of "an attack on all American technology platforms and Americans by foreign governments. The days of online censorship of Americans are over'. Also coming was US Vice President JD Vance's lunge against the EU. "There are rumours," he wrote in a tweet, "that the European Commission will fine X hundreds of millions of dollars for not enforcing censorship. The EU should support free speech instead of attacking American companies for rubbish'. A message reiterated on X by Elon Musk himself, accompanied by the comment: 'Much appreciated'.