US joins Elon Musk fight against €120m EU fine

By Juliet Umeh, Agency report

The United States Government has joined billionaire Elon Musk’s legal battle against the European Union (EU) seeking to overturn a €120 million fine imposed on his social media platform, X, over alleged breaches of the bloc’s digital rules.

The US Department of Justice, DOJ, has asked the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union for permission to intervene in support of X and Musk in their bid to annul the European Commission’s December 2025 decision.

The move raises the stakes in an increasingly contentious debate between Washington and Brussels over the regulation of American technology companies operating in Europe.

Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ’s Civil Division, Brett Shumate, accused the European Commission of regulatory overreach.

“The European Commission inappropriately attempted to expand its regulatory authority to reach American companies not present or operating within its jurisdiction,” Shumate said.

“We will not tolerate the European Commission engaging in regulatory overreach to try and control American engines of innovation and economic growth.”

The European Commission fined X €120 million for alleged violations of transparency obligations under the Digital Services Act, DSA.

The Commission cited what it described as the “deceptive design” of X’s blue checkmark system, inadequate transparency in its advertising repository and failure to provide researchers sufficient access to public data.

It argued that allowing users to obtain verified status without meaningful identity verification could expose users to impersonation, scams and manipulation.

However, the US government said the case could have wider consequences for American technology companies, particularly regarding how far European regulators can extend their authority.

The DOJ also objected to what it described as the extension of regulatory scrutiny to Musk personally and other companies under his ownership despite their alleged lack of connection to the digital services involved.

The legal battle could now become a significant test of the reach of Europe’s digital regulatory regime and its implications for US technology companies.

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