This is the European Union’s first fine under the new digital services law, which has been in force for around a year and a half.
This Monday, the European Commission rejected the “crazy statements” by the North American businessman who owns the social network X, Elon Musk, that he was targeted in the fine imposed on the platform, and by the North American administration regarding an attack on the United States.
“These allegations are simply wrong […]. We do not identify individuals. That doesn’t make sense and it’s not what the Commission is doing”, said the spokesperson for the community executive for the area of Technological Sovereignty, Thomas Regnier.
Asked at the community executive’s press conference in Brussels about such statements by the owner of the former Twitter, the spokesperson said: “This decision [a multa] was addressed to the entire corporate structure [do X]but it has nothing to do with Mr. Elon Musk himself.”
The position comes after North American businessman Elon Musk, over the weekend, demonstrated his anger at the fine in a series of publications in which he called for the abolition of the European Union.
“The EU imposed this absurd fine not only on [X]but also me personally, which is even more insane”, criticized Elon Musk.
Musk’s attacks came a day after United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized the fine, which he classified as an “attack” on Washington “by foreign governments”.
“The 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”, said Mark Rubio in a message on this platform.
Speaking of “crazy statements”, the spokesperson for the community executive for the area of Technological Sovereignty said today that community law “applies in the same way to all platforms in the EU, whether Chinese or American or European”.
Last Friday, the European Commission fined the social network X 120 million euros for violating community law with a misleading checkmark, lack of transparency in advertising and difficulty in accessing data for researchers.
At stake is an investigation launched in December 2023 to determine whether
Such violations are worth a fine of 120 million euros: respectively, 45 million, 35 million and 40 million euros.
The community executive justifies such amounts with the nature of these infringements, their seriousness in terms of affected EU users and their duration.
This is the first community fine under the new digital services law, in force for around a year and a half.
In August 2024, the EU became the first jurisdiction in the world with rules for digital platforms (especially large ones), which are now obliged to remove illegal and harmful content, under the new Digital Services Law.
The law was created to protect the fundamental rights of online users in the EU and became unprecedented legislation for the digital space that holds platforms responsible for harmful content, including disinformation and inappropriate content.
Technological companies that do not comply may be subject to fines of up to 6% of the companies’ global annual turnover.
