EU Imposes $140M Fines On X Over 'Deceptive' Blue Checkmarks: Elon Musk Calls 'Bullshit'

The European Union on Friday, imposed a $140 million ($120 million euro) fine on Elon Musk’s social media platform X for allegedly violating the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), marking the first enforcement action under the landmark legislation.

The penalty stems from three alleged violations: the deceptive design of its paid blue checkmark system, lack of transparency in its advertizing repository, and failure to provide researchers with adequate access to public data.

The EU’s European Commission claims that X’s blue checkmark system, which allows anyone to pay $8 per month for verification, misleads users by implying authenticity without meaningful verification, violating the DSA’s prohibition on deceptive design.

X was fined 45 million euros ($52.4 million) for the blue checkmark issue, 35 million euros ($40.7 million) for failing to maintain a transparent advertising database, and 40 million euros ($46.6 million) for blocking researchers from accessing public data.

The decision, announced on Friday, has triggered strong reactions from U.S. officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who accused the EU of targeting American tech companies, with Rubio claiming it was “an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments.”

"Rumors swirling that the EU commission will fine X hundreds of millions of dollars for not engaging in censorship" Vance wrote on X. "The EU should be supporting free speech not attacking American companies over garbage."

Musk initially responded with dismissive remarks, calling the ruling “Bullshit.”

The Commission denied that the fine is censorship, and claimed it's a necessary step to protect users’ rights and restore trust in the digital environment, with EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen saying, “Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, obscuring information on ads and shutting out researchers have no place online in the EU.”

Virkkunen added: “The DSA protects users. The DSA gives researchers the way to uncover potential threats. The DSA restores trust in the online environment. With the DSA’s first non-compliance decision, we are holding X responsible for undermining users’ rights and evading accountability.”

The investigation into X began in December 2023 and focused on the platform’s design, advertising practices, and handling of illegal content and information manipulation, with the latter probes still ongoing 

The EU can charge companies up to 6 percent of their global revenue for DSA violations. As X is a private company — purchased by Musk for $44 billion in October 2022 and again by his artificial intelligence company, X AI, in March 2025 for $33 billion — it’s unclear what its potential maximum penalty could have been.

X can appeal the fine, but now has 60 working days to inform the EU of the measures it will take to change the “deceptive” use of blue checkmarks, and 90 days for its planned fixes for the other violations. Failure to meet those deadlines could result in more penalty payments.

European lawmakers had reportedly deliberated how large a fine to issue as regulators sought to make an example of X as a warning to other companies while weighing the risks of sparking retaliation from President Donald Trump amid ongoing trade disputes. Musk, alongside the leadership of other US tech giants, has encouraged the president to stop the EU from taking advantage of US companies.

In contrast, TikTok avoided a penalty by pledging to improve its advertising transparency, highlighting the EU’s approach of encouraging compliance through negotiation.

"The 'EU' imposed this crazy fine not just on @X, but also on me personally, which is even more insane!," Musk wrote on X. "Therefore, it would seem appropriate to apply our response not just to the EU, but also to the individuals who took this action against me."

Chris Pavlovski, the CEO of popular YouTube rival Rumble, called for U.S. sanctions on the EU.

"The USA should sanction the EU immediately. Any country that violates our human right to free speech or imposes penalties to US companies exercising this right should feel the immediate wrath by the full power of the US government. Without free speech, we have nothing," Pavlovski wrote on X.

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, who has had his own dispute with European authorities, wrote on X: "The EU imposes impossible rules so it can punish tech firms that refuse to silently censor free speech. We saw the same in France: a baseless “criminal investigation”, then intelligence services offering to help with it if @telegram quietly censored speech in Romania and Moldova."