“This is an attack on the American people.” Rubio harshly on the EC's penalty for Platform X
2025-12-05 21:03
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2025-12-05 21:03
The fine of $140 million imposed by the European Commission on website X is an attack on all American technology platforms and the American people by foreign governments, said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday.
“The $140 million fine from the European Commission is not just an attack on X, it is an attack on all American technology platforms and the American people by foreign governments. The days of censoring Americans on the Internet are over,” Rubio wrote on X.
The European Commission has imposed a fine of 120 million euros (approximately $140 million) on Platform X, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, for failing to comply with the Digital Services Act (DSA) on transparency. This is the first fine imposed by the Commission on a digital giant since the DSA came into force.
As part of the proceedings against
Earlier, US Vice President JD Vance warned the European Commission against imposing a fine on X. As he wrote before the fine was announced, “there are rumors that the Commission will impose a fine of hundreds of millions of dollars on X for lack of censorship.” “The EU should support freedom of speech, not attack US companies for nothing,” Vance wrote.
European Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier emphasized in response to these words that EU digital rules do not constitute censorship and the fine imposed on Platform X has nothing to do with content moderation.
Representatives of Donald Trump's administration and the president himself have repeatedly attacked the EU for punishing American technology companies. On Tuesday, Trade Minister Howard Lutnick announced that if the EU wants to conclude a trade agreement, it must “let go” of American giants. Vance, in turn, sharply criticized European regulations on freedom of expression, accusing European countries and the UK of censorship and comparing the EU to the USSR.
Different decisions from Brussels: Fine for X, settlement with TikTok
On Friday, the EC also announced the closure of transparency proceedings against TikTok because it concluded that the platform had responded to its concerns during the investigation.
Regnier was asked whether such a decision does not show that the US administration is right to point out to the EU that its digital regulations disproportionately affect US companies. The EC spokesman said that both proceedings were conducted in parallel and therefore the decisions were made at the same time. – In one case, we have a company that engaged constructively and proposed formal commitments. We are happy to accept them because our goal is not penalties, but the good of citizens and consumers. On the other hand, we have a company that has not offered formal commitments, he emphasized. He added that the proceedings against X lasted two years and during that time the EC gained solid arguments in favor of imposing a penalty on this platform.
The fine that Platform X will have to pay is the first financial sanction imposed under the DSA. As part of the proceedings conducted since December 2023, the Commission came to the conclusion that the platform violates three provisions of the DSA: it misleadingly uses the “blue tick” to verify users, it does not have a transparent advertising repository and it does not provide data for research in a manner consistent with the regulations.
Further penalties against X cannot be ruled out, because the EC is also looking at X's way of dealing with content that is inconsistent with the provisions of the DSA and suspicions related to information manipulation.
Large digital companies with a dominant position in the EU market are subject to the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
DSA imposes requirements on large digital platforms and search engines, including: in terms of content moderation, the use of algorithms, the fight against disinformation and hate speech, and the labeling of political content. Some of the DSA provisions have been in force in the EU since November 2022. They are fully applicable from February 2024.
EC spokesman to Vance: our digital regulations are not censorship
EU digital regulations are not censorship, and the fine imposed on the X platform has nothing to do with content moderation, European Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said on Friday in response to the words of US Vice President JD Vance, who warned the EC against imposing a fine on X.
Vance posted on X about the punishment before it was announced. As he wrote, “there are rumors that the Commission will fine X hundreds of millions of dollars for lack of censorship.” Several hours after the US Vice President's post, the European Commission announced that due to violating the transparency provisions of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), Platform X, owned by American billionaire Elon Musk, must pay a fine of EUR 120 million.
– We simply decided that we didn't agree with the way some people in the US looked at our legislation. It is not about censorship and we have repeated it several times from this podium, emphasized EC spokeswoman Paula Pinho at a press conference in Brussels.
Regnier, the digital spokesman, added that the fine was imposed on X in connection with conduct that had nothing to do with content moderation but related to the transparency of the platform's operation.
Meanwhile – as Regnier argued – American platforms make their own decisions regarding content moderation. – Over 118 million content moderation decisions were made here in the EU from January to December 2025 by Instagram, not by us. Facebook, not us, issued over 413 million content moderation decisions in the EU this year, and X – over 616,000. – he mentioned.
– These are not speculations, these are facts – noted the EC spokesman. – We want platforms to enforce their terms and policies and for our citizens to be able to oppose unjustified content moderation decisions made by big tech companies, he said.
Magdalena Cedro from Brussels
From Washington Natalia Dziurdzińska (PAP)
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