Elon Musk sharply criticised the European Union on Saturday, declaring that the bloc “should be abolished” after his social media platform X was slapped with a $140 million fine just a day before.
The penalty was imposed for alleged violations of the EU’s strict content and transparency rules. These rules, enforced in August 2023, set out what big tech companies can and cannot do when it comes to moderating content and handling user data.
Musk argued that sovereignty must be returned to individual nations, so that governments can truly represent the interests of their people. His remarks come amid rising tensions between X and European regulators over the 27-nation bloc’s Digital Services Act.
“The EU should be abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries, so that governments can better represent their people,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter), which his startup xAI acquired in 2022.
In another tweet, Musk made a controversial comment, stating, “how long before the EU is gone? AbolishTheEU.”
What did X do to attract the penalty?
The European Commission said in a statement that it was penalising Elon Musk’s social media platform for violating three different transparency requirements under the law, AP reported.
According to the regulators, the platform’s blue checkmarks broke the law because of their “deceptive design” that could potentially expose X users to various scams and manipulation.
X also fell short of the requirements for its ad database and giving access to researchers access to public data, AP reported.
The platform received a formal warning last year, as EU claimed that it has failed to combat dangerous content.
All about the Digital Services Act
The Digital Services Act or DSA, is a comprehensive rulebook aimed at holding online platforms more accountable for the safety and integrity of their digital spaces.
It mandates these businesses to take proactive measures to protect European users, clean up harmful or illegal content and products on their sites, and additionally ensure transparency in how their algorithms work.
The law grants regulators greater enforcement powers, including the authority to levy hefty penalties on platforms that fail to comply, making non-compliance a costly risk for companies operating in the region.
At least two other major tecg companies, including Apple and Meta were also fined by the EU regulators this year, in order to make them comply with the Digital Markets Act. These companies were asked to pay a combined $797 million under the law, CNN reported earlier.